butter
Americannoun
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the fatty portion of milk, separating as a soft whitish or yellowish solid when milk or cream is agitated or churned.
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this substance, processed for cooking and table use.
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any of various other soft spreads for bread.
apple butter; peanut butter.
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any of various substances of butterlike consistency, as various metallic chlorides, and certain vegetable oils solid at ordinary temperatures.
verb (used with object)
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to put butter on or in; spread or grease with butter.
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to apply a liquefied bonding material to (a piece or area), as mortar to a course of bricks.
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Metalworking. to cover (edges to be welded together) with a preliminary surface of the weld metal.
verb phrase
noun
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an edible fatty whitish-yellow solid made from cream by churning, for cooking and table use
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( as modifier )
butter icing
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any substance with a butter-like consistency, such as peanut butter or vegetable butter
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to look innocent, although probably not so
verb
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to put butter on or in
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to flatter
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Conjugated Forms
Present
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have butteredperfect
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has butteredperfect 3rd person singular
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have been butteringperfect progressive
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butteringparticiple
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is butteringprogressive 3rd person singular
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am butteringprogressive 1st person singular
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has been butteringperfect progressive 3rd person singular
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butterssingular 3rd person
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are butteringprogressive
Past
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had butteredperfect
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was butteringprogressive singular
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had been butteringperfect progressive
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were butteringprogressive plural
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butteredsimple
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butteredparticiple
Future
Etymology
Origin of butter
before 1000; Middle English; Old English butere < Latin būtȳrum < Greek boútȳron
Explanation
Butter is a creamy spread made from milk fat. Your favorite breakfast might be hot toast slathered with butter. The process of making butter involves churning cream until the fats coagulate and become creamy and pale yellow. Butter is sometimes salted, and usually formed into sticks for cooks to use in frying, baking, and spreading on corn on the cob and baked goods. To do this is to butter your bread. The Greek root word is boutyron, literally "cow cheese," from bous, "cow."
Vocabulary lists containing butter
Yellow
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The owner of Jif peanut butter and Folgers coffee on Tuesday projected net sales to decline 3% to 4% in its fiscal 2027.
From The Wall Street Journal • Jun. 9, 2026
While Coinbase has diversified its business over the last five years, crypto trading remains its bread and butter, which is a problem when prices are low.
From Barron's • Jun. 5, 2026
A more humorous example of this, he said, is a 2015 Instagram photo from TSA of an open jar of peanut butter.
From Los Angeles Times • May 22, 2026
But certain items that currently meet the requirements, such as beef jerky for protein or butter for dairy, no longer will.
From Salon • May 22, 2026
“Nope. Only flour and butter, babes. Any sugar was for the yeast, and they’ve done their work and eaten it all up.”
From "The Wrong Way Home" by Kate O’Shaughnessy
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
