How would you interpret ‘buttoned’ here? In the dining room, visible through the archway, Sister Violet’s lip remained buttoned but her eyebrows nearly reached her widow’s peak by the time she finished filing the day’s mail. How would you interpret ‘buttoned’ in the sentence: Sister Violet’s lip remained buttoned…? Is it possible that it means ‘buttoned-up smile’? I think so, because in the previous part, there is a sentence describing Sister Violet: And today here she is, dispatching the mess with carbon paper and a buttoned-up smile. Thanks! And it’s from The Lacuna by Kingsolver.