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
- butterless adjective
- butterlike adjective
- unbuttered adjective
Etymology
Origin of butter
before 1000; Middle English; Old English butere < Latin būtȳrum < Greek boútȳron
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.
The Monrovia-based company, which opened its first store in 1967 in Pasadena, is privately owned and known for its many private-label products, including cult favorite frozen orange chicken, cookie butter and viral miniature tote bags.
From Los Angeles Times
There was a large slab of ham, two eggs, fried potatoes, hot biscuits, butter, and strawberry jam.
From Literature
Roach acknowledges the market’s caution, given large language models are now threatening to do what has been the bread and butter of those companies.
From MarketWatch
In a separate pan, warm olive oil with a small knob of butter, then bloom Old Bay and Tony Chachere’s.
From Salon
A sheet cake dipped in pancake batter, dunked in butter frosting and sprinkled with Pop-Tarts.
From Salon
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.
