Dictionaries commonly use superscript numbers to distinguish between convergent words - that is, words with the same spelling and (usually) same pronunciation but different meanings and word origins.
I just discovered that Random House (dictionary.com) has *eight* different bucks. Can anyone come up with a word with more?
I was looking for the origin of the card-playiing buck. Turns out it was originally a buckhorn knife used as a buck; I've only seen hockey pucks and ashtrayts used as becks. They alse define the buck as something put in the pot to remind the winner of an obligation the winner has. We always used a buck to keep track of who was to deal the next hande, in games where the deal rotated around the table.
Google ngram viewer says "rotate about" was 5 times as popular as "rotate around" but "around" has been slowing become more popular, and "about" has dropped precipitously, and they crossed in 1998, with "around" about 30% more common than "about". It'd be interesting to learn what drove that trend.
For buck, the OxED has 11 nouns, 2 adjectives, and 10 verbs. And, after reviewing all the verbs, it does not appear that any definition fits the action of 'buck' as applied to installing rivets.
In poker I always referred to the marker as the "button," short for "dealer button." I'll start using "buck" now. Ironically, in the case of poker, passing the buck is mandatory, and actually gives away an advantage.
Do you buck a rivet, or do you buck up a rivet?
I've only ever heard the latter, but it may have been deliberate, in a good enough for government work sense. "How's the riveting going?"Â "We're finished; situation normal, all bucked up."
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In card games other than poker, it's not the dealer that has the advantage, but the fellow who is keeping score...
deaconB said
Do you buck a rivet, or do you buck up a rivet?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rivet seems to say both ends of the rivet are bucked. The tail (straight) end is bucked (deformed), but the caption under the airplane riveting carries my understanding that you buck the head end while the tail end is deformed with a hammer.
Growing up, it seems us kids would hold a buck for dad--just about as often driving something out as deforming something being installed. But, if you knock a section out of a sicklebar mower, you often have to drive out the rivets while bucking the bar. And, then, buck the rivet while installing the rivets in the section and bar.