Another button question

I suspect the "up" has nothing to do with direction. You tie up loose ends, bung up a hole, wrap up a meeting. In all these examples - and there are many more - the general idea is closing and no direction is involved.

After writing the above, I looked in The Chambers Twentieth Century Dictionary, which is what I have to hand. It gives among the umpteen meanings of "up": "into closed or compact state, together".

Zip up your coat. Never heard zip down your coat either.

you unzip a coat, or anything else.

I don't know. But I know that men's and women's shirts have the buttons on different sides.

I suspect the "up" has nothing to do with direction. You tie up loose ends, bung up a hole, wrap up a meeting. In all these examples - and there are many more - the general idea is closing and no direction is involved.

Merriam Webster gives this definition of "up"
> entirely, completely "button up your coat"

The OED:
>so as to be finished or closed:
>I’ve got a bit of paperwork to finish up
>he zipped up the holdall

So when you button up your coat, you fasten every button. In any direction.

Edited by: nutraxfornerves. ORD is an airport; OED is a dictionary.

Kind of how people "dress up" for a special occasion, and "dress down" for a casual occasion.

I'd agree that button-up .... means complete the process, rather than a direction of buttoning

Interestingly, in Swedish, knäppa upp (lit. button up) means the opposite - to undo a button, collar, shirt, coat, etc.