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butter someone up

Cultural  

  1. To praise or flatter someone excessively: “Percy was always buttering up the boss, so he was surprised when he failed to get a promotion.”

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.

After defeat by Palace on Sunday Lampard criticised his players, saying: "There is only so much you can keep trying to butter someone up to give them confidence."

From BBC • Mar. 21, 2022

"There is only so much you can keep trying to butter someone up to give them confidence," manager Lampard said.

From BBC • Mar. 20, 2022

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.