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

Description of the shea, or vegetable butter tree.

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

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

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.

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.

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