butt up

present singular third person butts up · participle present butting up · participle past butted up · past butted up

1. idiomaticintransitiveTo touch closely, to scrape (against); to press firmly (against).

   Tonight’s sumptuous two-hour gig butts up hard against the curfew. Minutes often go by during which Murphy dispenses entirely with the business of singing pop songs. She’ll vogue, or reanimate some acid house moves, letting the beat take over.

   2021 September 25, Kitty Empire, “Róisín Murphy review – a triumphant dancefloor workout”, in The Guardian

2. figurativelyidiomaticintransitiveTo be in sharp contrast with; to confront.

   At their zenith—arguably their infamous two-consecutive-night Knebworth gigs in 1996—Oasis embodied a very particular swaggering Manchester-ness, an unmatched scally confidence that butted up against a more constructed, dare I say pretentious, British music scene.

   2024 August 28, Raven Smith, “Liam Gallagher, Noel Gallagher, and the Art of the Public Feud”, in Vogue