buck

/bək/

/bək/

Other forms: bucks; bucking; bucked

A buck is an adult male deer, antelope, reindeer, or rabbit. You can usually tell a buck by its large horns. If it’s a bunny, you just have to ask. A buck is also slang for an American dollar.

Full-grown male kangaroos are bucks, too. When a male animal is a buck, the female is a doe. A buck is a male deer, and so a doe is a female deer. When it's used as a verb, buck means to move in an abrupt, jerky way — when a horse bucks, it jumps and kicks its back legs out behind it. If someone bucks the system, they’re pushing against it. Colloquially, "to buck up” means to cheer up.

Definitions of buck

1. noun

   mature male of various mammals (especially deer or antelope)
   types:

   stag

   adult male deer

   royal, royal stag

   stag with antlers of 12 or more branches

   type of:

   eutherian, eutherian mammal, placental, placental mammal

   mammals having a placenta; all mammals except monotremes and marsupials
2. verb

   jump vertically, with legs stiff and back arched
   synonyms: hitch, jerk

   type of:

   move

   move so as to change position, perform a nontranslational motion
3. verb

   move quickly and violently
   synonyms: charge, shoot, shoot down, tear

   dart, dash, flash, scoot, scud, shoot

   run or move very quickly or hastily

   types:

   rip

   move precipitously or violently

   type of:

   belt along, bucket along, cannonball along, hasten, hie, hotfoot, pelt along, race, rush, rush along, speed, step on it

   move fast
4. verb

   resist
   “buck the trend”

   synonyms: go against

   type of:

   oppose, react

   act against or in opposition to
5. verb

   to strive with determination
   “John is bucking for a promotion”

   type of:

   endeavor, endeavour, strive

   attempt by employing effort
6. noun

   a piece of paper money worth one dollar
   synonyms: clam, dollar, dollar bill, one dollar bill

   type of:

   Federal Reserve note, bank bill, bank note, banker's bill, banknote, bill, government note, greenback, note

   a piece of paper money (especially one issued by a central bank)
7. noun

   a framework for holding wood that is being sawed
   synonyms: horse, sawbuck, sawhorse

   types:

   trestle

   sawhorses used in pairs to support a horizontal tabletop

   type of:

   framework

   a structure supporting or containing something
8. noun

   a gymnastic horse without pommels and with one end elongated; used lengthwise for vaulting
   synonyms: long horse, vaulting horse

   type of:

   gymnastic horse, horse

   a padded gymnastic apparatus on legs