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butter

 - 9 dictionary results

but⋅ter

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

Origin:
bef. 1000; ME; OE butere < L būtȳrum < Gk boútȳron


but⋅ter⋅less, adjective
but⋅ter⋅like, adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To butter
butt 1   (bŭt)   
v.   butt·ed, butt·ing, butts

v.   tr.
To hit or push against with the head or horns; ram.
v.   intr.
  1. To hit or push something with the head or horns.

  2. To project forward or out.

n.  A push or blow with the head or horns.
Phrasal Verb(s):
butt inTo interfere or meddle in other people's affairs.
butt out Slang
  1. To leave someone alone.

  2. To leave; depart.


[Middle English butten, from Old French bouter, to strike, of Germanic origin; see bhau- in Indo-European roots.]
butt'er n.
but·ter   (bŭt'ər)   
n.  
  1. A soft yellowish or whitish emulsion of butterfat, water, air, and sometimes salt, churned from milk or cream and processed for use in cooking and as a food.

  2. Any of various substances similar to butter, especially:

    1. A spread made from fruit, nuts, or other foods: apple butter.

    2. A vegetable fat having a nearly solid consistency at ordinary temperatures.

  3. Flattery.

tr.v.   but·tered, but·ter·ing, but·ters
To put butter on or in.
Phrasal Verb(s):
butter upTo praise or flatter excessively: You're always buttering up the boss.

[Middle English butere, from Old English, from Latin būtȳrum, from Greek boutūron : bous, cow; see gwou- in Indo-European roots + tūros, cheese; see teuə- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Slang Dictionary
butter

  1. mod.
    good; really fine. : This guy Walter, he's butter, totally butter.
Dictionary of American Slang and Colloquial Expressions by Richard A. Spears.Fourth Edition.
Copyright 2007. Published by McGraw Hill.
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Word Origin & History

butter 
O.E. butere, from a W.Gmc. source (cf. Ger. Butter, Du. boter), an early loan-word from L. butyrum "butter," from Gk. boutyron, perhaps lit. "cow-cheese," from bous "ox, cow" + tyros "cheese;" but this may be a folk-etymology of a Scythian word. The product was used from an early date in India, Iran and northern Europe, but not in ancient Greece and Rome. Herodotus described it (along with cannabis) among the oddities of the Scythians. The verb meaning "to flatter lavishly" is from 1816. Butter-fingered is attested from 1615. Deceptively named buttermilk is from 1528; it is what remains after the butter has been churned out.
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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Medical Dictionary

Main Entry: but·ter
Pronunciation: 'b&t-&r
Function: noun
1 : a solid emulsion of fat globules, air, and water made by churning milkor cream and used as food
2 : a buttery substance; especially : any of various fatty oils remaining nearly solid at ordinary temperatures
Merriam-Webster's Medical Dictionary, © 2002 Merriam-Webster, Inc.
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Medical Dictionary

butter but·ter (bŭt'ər)
n.

  1. A soft yellowish or whitish emulsion of butterfat, water, air, and sometimes salt, churned from milk or cream and processed for use in cooking and as a food.

  2. A soft solid having at room temperature a consistency like that of butter.

The American Heritage® Stedman's Medical Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company.
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Bible Dictionary

Butter

(Heb. hemah), curdled milk (Gen. 18:8; Judg. 5:25; 2 Sam. 17:29), or butter in the form of the skim of hot milk or cream, called by the Arabs kaimak, a semi-fluid (Job 20:17; 29:6; Deut. 32:14). The words of Prov. 30:33 have been rendered by some "the pressure [not churning] of milk bringeth forth cheese."

Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary
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Idioms & Phrases

butter

In addition to the idioms beginning with butter, also see bread and butter; bread-and-butter letter; know which side of bread is buttered.

The American Heritage® Dictionary of Idioms by Christine Ammer.
Copyright © 1997. Published by Houghton Mifflin.
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