butter

[buht-er]

See more synonyms for butter on Thesaurus.com

noun

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

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

verb (used with object)

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

Verb Phrases

butter up, 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.

Origin of butter

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

Related formsbut·ter·less, adjectivebut·ter·like, adjectiveun·but·tered, adjective

Can be confusedbudder butter

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for butter

oil, shortening, margarine, spread, oleo, ghee

Examples from the Web for butter

Contemporary Examples of butter

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.
Make ‘The Chew’s’ Carla Hall’s Sticky Toffee Pudding
Carla Hall
December 28, 2014
While the beans are cooling and drying, melt the butter in a saute pan over medium heat.
Make Carla Hall’s Crispy Shallot Green Bean Casserole
Carla Hall
December 27, 2014
“Butter has always been a healthy part of the diet in almost every culture; butter is a traditional food,” Asprey says.
Bulletproof Coffee and the Case for Butter as a Health Food
DailyBurn
December 27, 2014
Now, his new book “The Bulletproof Diet,” claims to offer a weight loss solution that lets you have your butter, and eat it too.
Bulletproof Coffee and the Case for Butter as a Health Food
DailyBurn
December 27, 2014
Add chocolate and butter to the bowl and melt, stirring to combine.
Carla Hall’s Christmas Day Treat: Rum Balls
Carla Hall
December 25, 2014

Historical Examples of butter

She tried to talk to Mr. Brailsford when he handed her the tea and bread and butter.
Life and Death of Harriett Frean
May Sinclair
Add the milk, butter, salt, and pepper and return the clams.
Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 3
Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences
Roll in the white of egg and then in flour and sauté in butter.
Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 3
Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences
Add the butter, and when it has melted remove from the heat.
Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 4
Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences
Of what value are milk, cream, and butter in the making of candy?
Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 5
Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences

British Dictionary definitions for butter

butter

noun

1. an edible fatty whitish-yellow solid made from cream by churning, for cooking and table use
2. (as modifier)butter icing Related adjective: butyraceous
any substance with a butter-like consistency, such as peanut butter or vegetable butter
look as if butter wouldn't melt in one's mouth to look innocent, although probably not so

verb (tr)

to put butter on or in
to flatter

Word Origin for butter

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

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for butter

Old English butere "butter," general West Germanic (cf. Old Frisian, Old High German butera, German Butter, Dutch boter), an early loan-word from Latin butyrum "butter" (source of Italian burro, Old French burre, French beurre), from Greek boutyron, perhaps literally "cow-cheese," from bous "ox, cow" (see cow (n.)) + tyros "cheese;" but this might be a folk etymology of a Scythian word.

The product was used from an early date in India, Iran and northern Europe, but not in ancient Greece and Rome. Herodotus described it (along with cannabis) among the oddities of the Scythians. Butter-knife attested from 1818.

Old English buterian "spread butter on," from the same source as butter (n.). Figurative meaning "to flatter lavishly" is by 1798 (with up (adv.), in Connelly's Spanish-English dictionary, p.413). Related: Buttered; buttering.

butter in Medicine

butter

[bŭt′ər]

A soft yellowish or whitish emulsion of butterfat, water, air, and sometimes salt, churned from milk or cream and processed for use in cooking and as a food.
A soft solid having at room temperature a consistency like that of butter.

Idioms and Phrases with butter

butter

In addition to the idioms beginning with butter

butter up
butter wouldn't melt in one's mouth

also see:

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