Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English homepage

but

2 preposition
     
but2 S2 W3
1 apart from [= except]:
I could come any day but Thursday.
There's no one here but me.
I could still see nothing but the spirals of desert dust.
He was unable to swallow anything but liquids.
2

the last but one/the next but two etc

especially British English the last or next thing or person except for one, two etc:
Pauline and Derek live in the next house but one (=they live two houses away from us).
Definition from the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
Advanced Learner's Dictionary.

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