butter tree

American  

noun

1. any of several tropical trees of the sapodilla family, having seeds that yield a butterlike oil.

---

Etymology

Origin of butter tree

First recorded in 1820–30

Example Sentences

After bathing they anoint themselves with the oil from the butter tree.

From The World and Its People: Book VII Views in Africa by Badlam, Anna B.

Description of the shea, or vegetable butter tree.

From Life and Travels of Mungo Park in Central Africa by Park, Mungo

These steamers carry on an exchange of European goods for ivory, palm oil, and butter from the olivelike seeds of the butter tree.

From The World and Its People: Book VII Views in Africa by Badlam, Anna B.

Then the butter tree rattled down some butternuts, which Uncle Wiggily took home, and Nurse Jane said the butter squeezed from them was very good.

From Uncle Wiggily in the Woods by Garis, Howard Roger

Concrete milk and butter made from the Shea butter tree, and others growing in Para, are also exhibited.

From The Commercial Products of the Vegetable Kingdom Considered in Their Various Uses to Man and in Their Relation to the Arts and Manufactures; Forming a Practical Treatise & Handbook of Reference for the Colonist, Manufacturer, Merchant, and Consumer, on the Cultivation, Preparation for Shipment, and Commercial Value, &c. of the Various Substances Obtained From Trees and Plants, Entering into the Husbandry of Tropical and Sub-tropical Regions, &c. by Simmonds, P. L.