Buckle | Webster's Dictionary (1865)

Bŭck'le, n.

noun

(bŭk'l), n. [Fr. boucle, buckle, ring, O. Fr. bocle, boucle, bloque, boss, Pr. bocla, bloca, O. Sp. bloca, from Lat. buccula, a little cheek or mouth, dim. of bucca, cheek, because this boss or knob resembled a cheek.]

Sense 1. An instrument, usually of metal, consisting of a rim with a movable tongue or catch, used for fastening things together, as parts of dress or harness, by means of a strap passing through the rim, and pierced by the tongue.

Sense 2. A curl, or a state of being curled or crisped, as hair.

Earlocks in tight buckles on each side of a lantern face. W. Irving.

Sense 3. A contorted expression, as of the face.

’Gainst nature armed by gravity, His features too in buckle see. Churchill.

Bŭck'le, v. t.

verbtransitive

(bŭk'l), v. t. [imp. & p. p. BUCKLED; p. pr. & vb. n. BUCKLING.]

To fasten with a buckle, or buckles.
To prepare for action; to apply with vigor and earnestness; to set stoutly at work; — generally reflexively.

Hereupon Cartwright buckled himself to the employment. Fuller. 3. To join in battle. Hayward.

Bŭck'le, v. i.

verbintransitive

(bŭk'l), v. i. 1. To bend; to bow. “Melted and buckled with the heat of the fire like parchment.” Pepys.

Sense 2. To enter upon some labor or contest; to struggle; to contend.

The bishop was as able and ready to buckle with the Lord Protector as he with him. Latimer.

In single combat, thou shalt buckle with me. Shak.

To buckle to, to bend to; to apply with vigor; to engage with zeal. “To make our sturdy humor buckle thereto.” Barrow.