buttonhook

{{Short description|Clothing tool}}

{{About|the clothing tool|the American football run pattern "Button hook"|Curl (route)}}

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Image:Button hook from Ziefle & Nissle, Fine Shoes, Ann Arbor, Michigan..jpg

File:Damkänga från 1899 med kängknäppare - Nordiska Museet - NMA.0034994.jpg

A buttonhook is a tool used to facilitate the closing of buttoned shoes, gloves or other clothing. It consists of a hook fixed to a handle which may be simple or decorative as part of a dresser set or chatelaine. Sometimes they were given away as promotions with product advertising on the handle. To use, the hook end is inserted through the buttonhole to capture the button by the shank and draw it through the opening.{{cite book |last=Johnson |first=Eleanor |title=Fashion Accessories |location=UK |publisher=Shire Publications |date=1980 |isbn=0-85263-530-3}}{{rp|7}}

Buttonhooks have other uses as well. At Ellis Island, screeners known as "buttonhook men" used buttonhooks to turn immigrants' eyelids inside out to look for signs of trachoma.{{Cite web|url=https://www.history.com/topics/ellis-island|title = Ellis Island| date=13 February 2023 }}{{Better source needed|date=February 2023}}