noun

buck

BUHK

noun

An adult male deer or similar animal.

"A buck stood at the edge of the woods, antlers catching the light."

Informal, especially American, word for a dollar.

"That coffee cost me five bucks."

verb

Of a horse, to jump with an arched back and kick out the hind legs, often to throw off a rider.

"The horse bucked wildly and threw its rider into the mud."

To resist or oppose something strongly, especially a trend or authority.

"The small firm decided to buck the trend and expand during the recession."

How to Use Buck

Learner’s notes

In plain EnglishA male deer, informal slang for a dollar, or (as a verb) to kick upward violently or to resist something.

Common mistake

"Pass the buck" (avoid responsibility) uses an old poker sense of buck as a marker, unrelated to the dollar meaning.

Common pairings

buck the trend make a quick buck buck wildly

Word Forms

bucked past tense, bucked past tense, bucked past tense, bucked past tense, bucked past tense, bucks plural, bucks plural, bucks singular, bucks singular, bucks singular, bucks singular, bucks singular

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A _____ stood at the edge of the woods, antlers catching the light.

Etymology

From Old English bucca ("he-goat, stag"). The dollar sense comes from "buckskin," once used as a unit of trade among American frontier traders.

Rhymes for buck

duck luck suck muck yuck puck huck tuck stuck truck pluck chuck

See all rhymes for buck →