butter tree

American  

noun

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

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Etymology

Origin of butter tree

First recorded in 1820–30

Example Sentences

The seeds of B. butyracea, the Indian butter tree, yield a butter-like substance, which makes good soap.

From The New Gresham Encyclopedia. Vol. 1 Part 3 Atrebates to Bedlis by Various

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.

In the central portions of Africa a most remarkable three, called the butter tree, is found.

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

I was next employed in collecting the fruit of a species of bassia, or what I should call a butter tree.

From Mark Seaworth by Kingston, William Henry Giles

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