buckle to

verb

Synonym of buckle down (“to apply oneself to study, or a task or work; to focus on or take a serious attitude towards something; to put forth the needed effort”).

Meanings

verbbuckle to (third-person singular simple present buckles to, present participle buckling to, simple past and past participle buckled to)

present singular third person buckles to · participle present buckling to · participle past buckled to · past buckled to

  1. idiomaticinformalintransitiveSynonym of buckle down (“to apply oneself to study, or a task or work; to focus on or take a serious attitude towards something; to put forth the needed effort”).
    1 more example

    Then the sergeant let us out, and introducing us to a pile of wood and saws and axes, informed us that when this had been cut up into firewood we should get our breakfast. He sat at the door of his kitchen watching, and seeing there was nothing else for it we buckled to and soon had the job done; when we were admitted to the kitchen and given a really good meal.

    1929, D[onald] J[ohn] Munro, “Nemesis”, in The Roaring Forties and After, London: Sampson Low, Marston & Co., →OCLC, page 38

    Synonyms: buckle down

Synonyms & antonyms

verbSynonym of buckle down (“to apply oneself to study, or a task or work; to focus on or take a serious attitude towards something; to put forth the needed effort”).

Also see

Origin

Cite this entry
APA

buckle to. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/buckle%20to

MLA

“buckle to.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/buckle%20to. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “buckle to,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/buckle%20to.

Source: buckle to on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.