buttoned-down

1. Having or fastened together by buttons, as of the collar of a shirt. Primarily heard in US. We're going to a nice restaurant for dinner, so be sure to wear a buttoned-down shirt, please! Mom, can you iron that buttoned-down blouse for me? Ugh, I have to wear a buttoned-down shirt and a tie to this thing?

2. Conservative, unimaginatively conventional, or old-fashioned, as of a person's clothing, attitude, behavior, or beliefs. He spent his entire adult life as a buttoned-down clerk, so when he turned 65, he decided it was time for adventure! Wait, I'm sorry, are you saying that buttoned-down Aunt Ida was a groupie for Grand Funk Railroad in the '70s? That's, like, inconceivable! Roger's always lived a buttoned-down life, even when he was in his 20s.

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References in periodicals archive ?

"I guess as a white heterosexual man living in the United States, I should feel like I'm part of the big accepted group," concedes Sarsgaard, who earned his greatest pre-Kinsey acclaim for portraying buttoned-down New Republic editor Chuck Lane, who uncovered the pathological fabrications of journalist Stephen Glass, in 2003's fact-based Shattered Gloss.

Sex and the Kinsey guy: while sexual fluidity may attract talented actors like Kinsey's Peter Sarsgaard, it seems to frighten away audiences--and Oscar voters. The actor and his openly gay directors speculate on why

That's when the buttoned-down suit-and-tie crowd really cut loose.

GOP cuts loose at rockin' bashes

So instead of playing the free-spirited Becky she plays the more buttoned-down and unlikeable fiancee Karen.

That's why the lady is no vamp

He's a dandy who lived in buttoned-down New York; in Marseilles, he becomes more flamboyant.

Lionel Chetwynd and the enigmatic mr. Fry

This is a common scene across the South: people inveighing against Washington, muttering--in the most respectable, buttoned-down and bourbon-sipping company--about the Clintons and the liberals.

Dixie Rising: How the South is Shaping American Values, Politics and Culture

On TV, Jeeves and Wooster made him a thinking man's buttoned-down sex symbol for fans on both sides of the Atlantic.

Bright & brassy: legendary actor-author-wit Stephen Fry makes his screen directorial debut with Bright Young Things

Sun President and CEO Paul Godfrey couldn't be more different from buttoned-down Eyton, nor the culture at the flagship Toronto Sun itself--a Great White Northern version of USA Today--more of a contrast to conventional Edper.

Toronto travails

A little less buttoned-down, blow-dried primness might prompt voters to cut members of Congress a little more slack.

Congressional Chronicles

Successful middle-aged Madrid lawyer Daniel (Fernando Guillen Cuervo) strays from his buttoned-down life and circle of posh queeny friends to go nuts for strapping refugee Kyril (Dritan Biba), a standout among the hordes of hot politically displaced Eastern European bucks flooding Spain in hope of a better tomorrow.

Senor wrong: the sexy-refugee-meets-uptight-Spaniard flick Bulgarian Lovers never digs deep enough

He graduated law school but rejected the buttoned-down legal world for advertising.

Style Court's Judge Henry Roth: hear ye, hear ye: designer Henry Roth is handing down fashionable verdicts on the Style Network

I find it really difficult to generalize because gay people are all so different: They're conservative and they're liberal and they're right-wing and left-wing and flamboyant and buttoned-down. So as far as whether gay people like my music, I hope so.

Moby's mission: with a new CD ready to go, the king of pop electronica continues to defy both musical and sexual labels. But he has no problem taking sides when it comes to gay rights and Eminem

For Songcatcher she has invented a buttoned-down musicologist named Dr.

Songcatcher

MACKENZIE ASTIN will be popping up on First Years, the NBC mid-season dramedy (premiering March 19), as Warren Harrison, the buttoned-down but very out associate at a San Francisco law firm.