Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US) to act in a physically aggressive manner.

1988

D. Woodrell Muscle for the Wing 128: Shuggie, you figure we’ll have to butch down on this tush hog Gillette?

(US prison) to force a fellow prisoner to give oral sex in return for favours, protection etc.

2000

Other Side of the Wall: Prisoner’s Dict. July 🌐 Butched In: Having to perform oral sex for favors.

to affect a strong persona irrespective of the reality.

2020

Guardian 18 Apr. 🌐 Raab [...] a man who strongly suspects there’s a chalk penis drawn on his back, but is just going to butch it out by facing forward till the bell goes.

1. to get a military, i.e ultra-short, haircut; thus butched up adj., having such a haircut.

1957

N.Y. Times Mag. 4 Aug. 9/1: It is difficult to pinpoint the exact date at which the military haircut became both cause celebre and a source of humor. [...] The newest example, of course, is Airman Donald Wheeler, who refused to get himself butched up and got away with it.

2. (US gay) of a homosexual male, to accentuate a spurious masculinity in order to hide one’s actual homosexuality; of a lesbian, to accentuate one’s ‘maleness’.

1964		Lavender Lex. n.p.: butch it up:–An admonition to act less faggotty. Often is spoken in jest, and may be heard as, ‘Butch it up, Mary’, meaning to cut out the obvious homosexual talk and action.
1965		Guild Dict. Homosexual Terms 6: butch it up (v.): The act or effort of assuming the characteristics of one who is butch (q. v.); said of one who must do so in an effort to hide his homosexuality from his heterosexual friends.
1968		M. Crowley Boys in the Band in 3 Plays (1996) 24: I butched it up quite a bit. And I didn’t think I was lying to myself. I really thought I was straight.
1982		Maledicta VI:1+2 (Summer/Winter) 138: Butch it up = ‘to make an effort or pretence to be[ing] butch’.
2003		K. Cage Gayle.

3. as sense 2 but in non-homosexual contexts.

1985		Guardian 28 May [Nexis] You must make special efforts to catch her attention. Try some sexy surprises – wear a cosy woolly cardi that brings out the boy in you, just the thing to play smacky lips and huggy bear. Cook something sexy, husky and he-man. Butch up your little world, schmuck.
1988		Tradeswomen (S.F.) 31 Oct. [Proquest] 51: [written by a female auto mechanic who became a trades teacher] Over the next several months I studied hard, asked a lot of questions, butched-up even more than usual (a feat thought by some to be impossible) and began pulling a share of the teaching load.
2024		N. Cohen Writing from London 22 Feb. 🌐 You might want to say that MPs should butch-up and grow a pair, but be careful what you wish for.

(US gay) a masculine lesbian or homosexual who wears formal clothes.

1998

R. Scott Rebecca’s Dict. of Queer Sl. 🌐 glamour butch — a butch who likes to wear fancy suits, tuxedos, etc, frequently.

(gay) a ‘masculine’ lesbian with a soft side and gentle character.

1998		R. Scott Rebecca’s Dict. of Queer Sl. 🌐 soft butch — a butch lesbian who is, perhaps, not so stereotypically masculine as a stone.
1999		Gaymart.com Queer Sl. in the Gay 90s 🌐 Soft Butch – A butch lesbian with a soft side and gentle demeanor.