butter knife

American  

noun

1. a small knife with a dull blade, for cutting, serving, or spreading butter.

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Etymology

Origin of butter knife

First recorded in 1840–50

Example Sentences

Crisp cookies soften into clouds of lightly sweetened cream, layered with jam or mascarpone, until the whole thing collapses just enough to make slicing with a butter knife feel like a small act of rebellion.

From Salon • Dec. 18, 2025

“Our butter knife was a brain retractor,” he says with a playful smile.

From Los Angeles Times • Apr. 10, 2025

Cool muffins on a rack for 5 minutes, then use a thin offset spatula or butter knife to extract each from its cup.

From Seattle Times • Jan. 23, 2024

Burns’s prose pours out in dense, heavily referential paragraphs you may need more than a butter knife to cut through, and the forward engine of plot feels more like a suggestion than a fact.

From New York Times • Jan. 13, 2024

She held the pencil like a butter knife and her penmanship was as bad as Clever’s.

From "A Girl Named Disaster" by Nancy Farmer