butter

[ buht-er ]

noun

1. the fatty portion of milk, separating as a soft whitish or yellowish solid when milk or cream is agitated or churned.
2. this substance, processed for cooking and table use.
3. any of various other soft spreads for bread:

   apple butter; peanut butter.

4. any of various substances of butterlike consistency, as various metallic chlorides, and certain vegetable oils solid at ordinary temperatures.

verb (used with object)

1. to put butter on or in; spread or grease with butter.
2. to apply a liquefied bonding material to (a piece or area), as mortar to a course of bricks.
3. Metalworking. to cover (edges to be welded together) with a preliminary surface of the weld metal.

verb phrase

1. Informal. to flatter someone in order to gain a favor:

   He suspected that they were buttering him up when everyone suddenly started being nice to him.

butter

/ ˈbʌtə /

noun

1. 1. an edible fatty whitish-yellow solid made from cream by churning, for cooking and table use
   2. ( as modifier ) butyraceous

      butter icing

2. any substance with a butter-like consistency, such as peanut butter or vegetable butter
3. look as if butter wouldn't melt in one's mouth
   to look innocent, although probably not so

verb

1. to put butter on or in
2. to flatter

Other Words From

• butter·less adjective
• butter·like adjective
• un·buttered adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of butter¹

before 1000; Middle English; Old English butere < Latin būtȳrum < Greek boútȳron

Word History and Origins

Origin of butter¹

Old English butere , from Latin būtyrum , from Greek bouturon , from bous cow + turos cheese

Idioms and Phrases

• bread and butter
• bread-and-butter letter
• know which side of bread is buttered

Example Sentences

All the downsides of popcorn but none of the good butter grease.

From Eater

Company-provided data show that while travelers are booking almost twice as many remote stays as last year, home rentals in urban markets—Airbnb’s bread and butter—are still struggling.

From Fortune

A 19th-century Pennsylvania Dutch doctor’s manual instructs its reader to inscribe the square in butter smeared on a piece of bread and eat it as a cure for rabies.

From Vox

The consumer piece was easier to fix—sell, don’t store, the butter.

From Fortune

It is the large quantities of salt and the sodium in the butters that are used to season them that can lead to high blood pressure.

From TruthBeTold.news

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.

From The Daily Beast

While the beans are cooling and drying, melt the butter in a saute pan over medium heat.

From The Daily Beast

“Butter has always been a healthy part of the diet in almost every culture; butter is a traditional food,” Asprey says.

From The Daily Beast

Now, his new book “The Bulletproof Diet,” claims to offer a weight loss solution that lets you have your butter, and eat it too.

From The Daily Beast

By Amanda Woerner for Life by DailyBurn Butter is making a comeback—and it has nothing to do with Paula Deen.

From The Daily Beast

The sailors sometimes use it to fry their meat, for want of butter, and find it agreeable enough.

From Project Gutenberg

You see, they always butter their chairs so that they won't stick fast when they sit down.

From Project Gutenberg

The former, in its frozen state, somewhat resembled hard butter.

From Project Gutenberg

He shall eat butter and honey, that he may know to refuse the evil, and to choose the good.

From Project Gutenberg

Your electro-plated butter-dish, or whatever it's going to be, will be simply flung back at you.

From Project Gutenberg

Related Words

• margarine
• oil
• shortening