butter tree

American  

noun

1. any of several tropical trees of the sapodilla family, having seeds that yield a butterlike oil.

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Etymology

Origin of butter tree

First recorded in 1820–30

Example Sentences

Concrete milk and butter made from the Shea butter tree, and others growing in Para, are also exhibited.

From The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom Considered in Their Various Uses to Man and in Their Relation to the Arts and Manufactures; Forming a Practical Treatise & Handbook of Reference for the Colonist, Manufacturer, Merchant, and Consumer, on the Cultivation, Preparation for Shipment, and Commercial Value, &c. of the Various Substances Obtained From Trees and Plants, Entering into the Husbandry of Tropical and Sub-tropical Regions, &c. by Simmonds, P. L.

Then the butter tree rattled down some butternuts, which Uncle Wiggily took home, and Nurse Jane said the butter squeezed from them was very good.

From Uncle Wiggily in the Woods by Garis, Howard Roger

The seeds of B. butyracea, the Indian butter tree, yield a butter-like substance, which makes good soap.

From The New Gresham Encyclopedia. Vol. 1 Part 3 Atrebates to Bedlis by Various

But nature, ever bountiful, supplies its place with the mi-cadania or butter tree, which yields abundance of a kind of vegetable marrow, pleasant to the taste, and highly esteemed by the natives.

From Lander's Travels The Travels of Richard Lander into the Interior of Africa by Huish, Robert

Description of the shea, or vegetable butter tree.

From Life and Travels of Mungo Park in Central Africa by Park, Mungo