butter-and-eggs

American  

[buht-er-uhn-egz] / ˈbʌt ər ənˈɛgz /

noun

(used with a singular or plural verb)

1. any of certain plants whose flowers are of two shades of yellow, as the toadflax, Linaria vulgaris.

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butter-and-eggs British  

noun

1. (functioning as singular) any of various plants, such as toadflax, the flowers of which are of two shades of yellow

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• butter-and-eggs
  plural

Etymology

Origin of butter-and-eggs

First recorded in 1770–80

Example Sentences

But that was changing: He pointed to butter-and-eggs, oxeye daisies, bellflowers, tufted vetch, hemp nettle, spotted jewelweed, creeping Charlie, common tansy, orange hawkweed.

From New York Times • Jul. 28, 2021

I am always sure when I see bouncing-bet, butter-and-eggs, and tawny lilies growing in a tangle together that in their midst may be found an untrodden door-stone, a fallen chimney, or a filled-in well.

From Home Life in Colonial Days by Earle, Alice Morse

Another flower of the waste places is a pretty little toad flax, or butter-and-eggs.

From Woodcraft or, How a Patrol Leader Made Good by Douglas, Alan

The hues of wild flowers vary with their situation: in shady woodlands the toadflax or butter-and-eggs is often pale—a sulphur colour; upon the Downs it is a deep and beautiful yellow.

From Round About a Great Estate by Jefferies, Richard

From the grassy roadside she gathered yellow and gold butter-and-eggs, blue spikes of false dragon’s head, and edged them with a lacy ruffle of wild carrot flowers.

From Amanda — a Daughter of the Mennonites by Myers, Anna Balmer