A buckle is a metal or plastic fastener used to join the ends of a belt, strap, or shoe. As a verb, it can mean to fasten with a buckle or to bend and collapse under pressure.
From Old French “bocle,” meaning “buckle” or “ring,” from Latin “buccula,” “little cheek,” a diminutive of “bucca,” “cheek.” The link may be from curved shapes like cheek guards on armor.
The same word that holds your belt together also describes a bridge collapsing: both involve bending under force. When engineers say a beam “buckled,” they’re using the same family of ideas as your seatbelt.
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