butter
Americannoun
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the fatty portion of milk, separating as a soft whitish or yellowish solid when milk or cream is agitated or churned.
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this substance, processed for cooking and table use.
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any of various other soft spreads for bread.
apple butter; peanut butter.
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any of various substances of butterlike consistency, as various metallic chlorides, and certain vegetable oils solid at ordinary temperatures.
verb (used with object)
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to put butter on or in; spread or grease with butter.
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to apply a liquefied bonding material to (a piece or area), as mortar to a course of bricks.
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Metalworking. to cover (edges to be welded together) with a preliminary surface of the weld metal.
verb phrase
noun
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an edible fatty whitish-yellow solid made from cream by churning, for cooking and table use
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( as modifier )
butter icing
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any substance with a butter-like consistency, such as peanut butter or vegetable butter
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to look innocent, although probably not so
verb
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to put butter on or in
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to flatter
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of butter
before 1000; Middle English; Old English butere < Latin būtȳrum < Greek boútȳron
Explanation
Butter is a creamy spread made from milk fat. Your favorite breakfast might be hot toast slathered with butter. The process of making butter involves churning cream until the fats coagulate and become creamy and pale yellow. Butter is sometimes salted, and usually formed into sticks for cooks to use in frying, baking, and spreading on corn on the cob and baked goods. To do this is to butter your bread. The Greek root word is boutyron, literally "cow cheese," from bous, "cow."
Vocabulary lists containing butter
Yellow
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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.
According to research from InvestorsObserver, a shopper spending $20 on packages of Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs at Target could buy five bags of the candy for $3.99 each in 2020.
From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 3, 2026
The boyband's concert that took place in the historic Gwanghwamun Square saw them perform songs from their new album alongside hits like Butter and Dynamite.
From BBC • Mar. 23, 2026
Formed in 2010, BTS were among the first K-pop groups to achieve global superstardom, topping the US Billboard 200 with hits like "Dynamite" and "Butter".
From Barron's • Mar. 21, 2026
Curated by Nakeyta Moore, Kimberly Drew and Butter co-founders Malina Simone and Alan Bacon, the fair is designed to spotlight L.A.’s established and emerging Black artists.
From Los Angeles Times • Feb. 23, 2026
Peanut Butter came over and told everybody to stand back, give him some room.
From "We Were Here" by Matt De La Peña
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.
