buttery

¹ American  

[buht-uh-ree] / ˈbʌt ə ri /

adjective

1. like, containing, or spread with butter.

2. resembling butter, as in smoothness or softness of texture.

   a vest of buttery leather.

3. grossly flattering; smarmy.

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buttery ² American  

[buht-uh-ree, buh-tree] / ˈbʌt ə ri, ˈbʌ tri /

noun

• butteries
  plural

1. Chiefly New England. a room or rooms in which the provisions, wines, and liquors of a household are kept; pantry; larder.

2. a room in colleges, especially at Oxford and Cambridge universities, from which articles of food and drink are sold or dispensed to the students.

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buttery ¹ British  

/ ˈbʌtərɪ /

adjective

1. containing, like, or coated with butter

2. informal grossly or insincerely flattering; obsequious

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buttery ² British  

/ ˈbʌtərɪ /

noun

1. a room for storing foods or wines

2. (in some universities) a room in which food is supplied or sold to students

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Other Word Forms

Derived Forms

• butteriness
  noun

Inflected Forms

Nouns

• butteries
  plural

Etymology

Origin of buttery¹

First recorded in 1350–1400;  Middle English buttry, buttrie; see butter, -y ¹

Origin of buttery²

First recorded in 1350–1400; Middle English boterie, butry, from Middle French, Old French, from Late Latin botāria (derivative of bota, butta “cask”) + -erie; see origin at butt ⁴, -ery

Explanation

Buttery food is full of butter, a rich creamy fat. Buttery also describes anything that reminds you of butter, like warm yellow light or a smooth talker who’s trying to butter you up so she can borrow your car. Although buttery is often used literally, as in “buttery popcorn,” it can describe anything that’s like butter in another way. If you describe someone's words or manner as buttery, you mean that they act insincerely complimentary or fawning. An old-fashioned meaning of buttery is "storeroom," like a pantry for keeping food or wine. Some British universities have a buttery, which is a snack shack for students.

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

buttery butteries

The best brunches in L.A. involve buttery biscuits in Glassell Park, live jazz in View Park-Windsor Hills and Hong Kong French toast in Koreatown, plus much more.

From Los Angeles Times ● Sep. 4, 2026

His saxophone’s tone grows more appealingly buttery with each passing year, yet his phrasing has lost none of its urgency.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Sep. 3, 2026

I took a bite of the buttery Texas toast and the crinkle-cut fries, then dipped them into the creamy, peppery Cane’s Sauce, which tasted something like pickled ranch.

From Slate ● Aug. 24, 2026

His tenor saxophone’s tone grows more appealingly buttery with each passing year, yet his phrasing has lost none of its urgency.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Aug. 5, 2026

It’s buttery with carrots and raisins cooked in it.

From "Amina's Song" by Hena Khan

Raffan tucked into supermarket meal deals and butteries - a "really dense, stodgy" Scottish pastry - but describes cold custard as his "secret weapon".

From BBC ● Jan. 16, 2023

Provender was in the butteries, coal within the bins.

From Time Magazine Archive

Between classes I drink cups of coffee with them and eat doughnuts, sitting in various common rooms and butteries and coffee shops.

From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood

There be some of us priests who have an affinity, do you not think, Mr. Mallock? with pantries and butteries and such like—good sound men too, many of them.

From Oddsfish! by Robert Hugh Benson

After coming home from the schools, I out with the landlord to Brazen- nose College to the butteries, and in the cellar find the hand of the child of Hales, long butler, 2s.

From The Diary of Samuel Pepys by Richard Griffin, Baron Braybrooke