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View synonyms for butter

butter

[ buht-er ]

noun

  1. the fatty portion of milk, separating as a soft whitish or yellowish solid when milk or cream is agitated or churned.
  2. this substance, processed for cooking and table use.
  3. any of various other soft spreads for bread:

    apple butter; peanut butter.

  4. any of various substances of butterlike consistency, as various metallic chlorides, and certain vegetable oils solid at ordinary temperatures.


verb (used with object)

  1. to put butter on or in; spread or grease with butter.
  2. to apply a liquefied bonding material to (a piece or area), as mortar to a course of bricks.
  3. Metalworking. to cover (edges to be welded together) with a preliminary surface of the weld metal.

verb phrase

  1. Informal. to flatter someone in order to gain a favor:

    He suspected that they were buttering him up when everyone suddenly started being nice to him.

butter

/ ˈbʌtə /

noun

    1. an edible fatty whitish-yellow solid made from cream by churning, for cooking and table use
    2. ( as modifier ) butyraceous

      butter icing

  1. any substance with a butter-like consistency, such as peanut butter or vegetable butter
  2. look as if butter wouldn't melt in one's mouth
    look as if butter wouldn't melt in one's mouth to look innocent, although probably not so


verb

  1. to put butter on or in
  2. to flatter

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Other Words From

  • butter·less adjective
  • butter·like adjective
  • un·buttered adjective

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Word History and Origins

Origin of butter1

before 1000; Middle English; Old English butere < Latin būtȳrum < Greek boútȳron

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Word History and Origins

Origin of butter1

Old English butere , from Latin būtyrum , from Greek bouturon , from bous cow + turos cheese

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Idioms and Phrases

  • bread and butter
  • bread-and-butter letter
  • know which side of bread is buttered

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Example Sentences

In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream the butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.

While the beans are cooling and drying, melt the butter in a saute pan over medium heat.

“Butter has always been a healthy part of the diet in almost every culture; butter is a traditional food,” Asprey says.

Now, his new book “The Bulletproof Diet,” claims to offer a weight loss solution that lets you have your butter, and eat it too.

By Amanda Woerner for Life by DailyBurn Butter is making a comeback—and it has nothing to do with Paula Deen.

The sailors sometimes use it to fry their meat, for want of butter, and find it agreeable enough.

You see, they always butter their chairs so that they won't stick fast when they sit down.

The former, in its frozen state, somewhat resembled hard butter.

He shall eat butter and honey, that he may know to refuse the evil, and to choose the good.

Your electro-plated butter-dish, or whatever it's going to be, will be simply flung back at you.

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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.

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butt endbutter-and-egg man