Definition of "but"

Luiz struggled with the movement of Helguson in the box, as he collected a long ball and the Spaniard barged him over, leaving referee Chris Foy little option but to point to the spot.

2011 October 23, Becky Ashton, “QPR 1-0 Chelsea”, in BBC Sport

If they kill us, we shall but die.

1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], 2 Kings 7:4

For to see her was to love her,Love but her, and love for ever.

1791, Robert Burns, Ae Fond Kiss

In those days, when my hands were much employed, I read but little, but the least scraps of paper which lay on the ground, my holder, or tablecloth, afforded me as much entertainment, in fact answered the same purpose as the Iliad.

1854 August 9, Henry D[avid] Thoreau, “Economy”, in Walden; or, Life in the Woods, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields

Now the Wicked Witch of the West had but one eye, yet that was as powerful as a telescope, and could see everywhere.

1900 May 17, L[yman] Frank Baum, The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, Chicago, Ill., New York, N.Y.: Geo[rge] M. Hill Co.

Black Knight: "'Tis but a scratch." King Arthur: "A scratch? Your arm's off!"

1975, Monty Python, Monty Python and the Holy Grail

The stony outcrops are often covered but thinly with arable soil; winters are bitingly cold, and rainfall scanty and unpredictable.

1977, Alistair Horne, A Savage War of Peace, New York: Review Books, published 2006, page 49

May the Protector of the Buddhist Faith grant me but seven more days grace of life to be quit of this disloyal couple, father and son.

1990, Claude de Bèze, translated by E. W. Hutchinson, 1688 revolution in Siam: the memoir of Father de Bèze, s.j, University Press, page 153

"Supposin' the chap ain't dead, but?" Regan persisted.

1906, "Steele Rudd", Back At Our Selection, page 161

In reality, I apprehend every amorous widow on the stage would run the hazard of being condemned as a servile imitation of Dido, but that happily very few of our play-house critics understand enough of Latin to read Virgil.

1749, Henry Fielding, The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume IV, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], book X

Irregular bedtimes may disrupt healthy brain development in young children, according to a study of intelligence and sleeping habits.Going to bed at a different time each night affected girls more than boys, but both fared worse on mental tasks than children who had a set bedtime, researchers found.

2013 July 19, Ian Sample, “Irregular bedtimes may affect children's brains”, in The Guardian Weekly, volume 189, number 6, page 34

Even without hovering drones, a lurking assassin, a thumping score and a denouement, the real-life story of Edward Snowden, a rogue spy on the run, could be straight out of the cinema. But, as with Hollywood, the subplots and exotic locations may distract from the real message: America’s discomfort and its foes’ glee.

2013 June 29, “Travels and travails”, in The Economist, volume 407, number 8842, page 55

And Crispin Crispian shall ne’er go by,From this day to the ending of the world,But we in it shall be rememberèd—

1599, William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act IV, scene iii]

There is no reason but hath another contrary unto it, saith the wisest party of Philosophers.

1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 15, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […]

And but my noble Moor is true of mind […] it were enough to put him to ill thinking.

c. 1603–1604 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Othello, the Moore of Venice”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act III, scene iv]

A deadly silence step by step increased, Until it seem'd a horrid presence there, And not a man but felt the terror in his hair.

1819, John Keats, “Lamia”, in Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], published 1820, part II, page 43

In those days, when my hands were much employed, I read but little, but the least scraps of paper which lay on the ground, my holder, or tablecloth, afforded me as much entertainment, in fact answered the same purpose as the Iliad.

1854 August 9, Henry D[avid] Thoreau, “Economy”, in Walden; or, Life in the Woods, Boston, Mass.: Ticknor and Fields

"Jakers, but we worked." With a long breath she shut her eyes. "But it was too much for one woman and a half-grown girl […] "

2013, Nora Roberts, Irish Thoroughbred‎, Little, Brown, page 25

No arboret with painted blossomes drest, / And smelling sweet, but there it might be found […]

1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie

For there is nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so

c. 1599–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Hamlet, Prince of Denmarke”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, [Act II, scene ii]

This man unable to manage his own happineſſe, grew ſo inſolent that he could not go, but either ſpurning his equals, or trampling on his inferiours.

1639, Thomas Fuller, “Unseasonable Discords betwixt King Baldwine and His Mother; Her Strength in Yeelding to Her Sonne”, in The Historie of the Holy Warre, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: […] Thomas Buck, one of the printers to the Universitie of Cambridge [and sold by John Williams, London], book II, page 84

Observe but how their own principles combat one another.

1641 May, John Milton, Of Reformation Touching Church-Discipline in England: And the Cavvses that hitherto have Hindred it; republished as Will Taliaferro Hale, editor, Of Reformation Touching Church-Discipline in England (Yale Studies in English; LIV), New Haven, Conn.: Yale University Press, 1916

a formidable man but to his friends

1717, John Dryden [et al.], “(please specify |book=I to XV)”, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses in Fifteen Books. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […]

'Tshall not be long but I'll be here again.

c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, (please specify the act number in uppercase Roman numerals, and the scene number in lowercase Roman numerals)

It is not impossible but next year I may have the honour of waiting on your Lordship at St. Asaph, If I go to Ireland I certainly will go that way.

1784, Joshua Reynolds, edited by John Ingamells and John Edgcumbe, The Letters of Sir Joshua Reynolds, Yale, published 2000, page 131

“I am convinced, if you were to press this matter earnestly upon her, she would consent.”“It is not impossible but she might,” said Madame de Seidlits […] .

1789, John Moore, Zeluco, Valancourt, published 2008, page 132

It is not improbable but future observations will add Pliny's Well to the class of irregular reciprocators.

1813 July, Journal of Natural Philosophy

"I support you/understand where you're coming from, but..." ¶ No. No "buts" when it comes to other people's survival.

2016 December 28, Concepcion de Leon, “5 Things Well-Meaning People Say to Me That Are Actually Really Offensive”, in Glamour‎, Greenwich, C.T., […]: Condé Nast Publications, archived from the original on 2023-02-08

But - and this is a pretty important but - it's just as bad to eat the wrong thing before a workout as it is to eat nothing at all.

2018 September 17, Catriona Harvey-Jenner, “8 foods you should never eat before a workout”, in Cosmopolitan‎, New York, N.Y.: Hearst Communications, archived from the original on 2023-01-28