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单词 butter
释义

buttern.1

Brit. /ˈbʌtə/, U.S. /ˈbədər/
Forms: early Old English butur- (in compounds), Old English buter (rare), Old English butor- (in compounds), Old English butr- (inflected form), Old English–early Middle English butere, late Old English buture, early Middle English botere, early Middle English butera, Middle English botir, Middle English boture, Middle English botyr, Middle English butir, Middle English butre, Middle English buttere, Middle English buttir, Middle English buttre, Middle English–1500s boter, Middle English–1500s botter, Middle English–1600s buter, Middle English–1600s buttur, Middle English 1600s butture, Middle English–1600s buttyr, Middle English– butter, 1500s–1600s buttor, 1500s–1600s butyr, 1600s bootar, 1700s buthther (Irish English (Wexford)); Scottish pre-1700 buiter, pre-1700 butar, pre-1700 buter, pre-1700 butir, pre-1700 butire, pre-1700 buttar, pre-1700 buttir, pre-1700 butyre, pre-1700 buytter, pre-1700– butter; N.E.D. (1888) also records a form Middle English bottre.
Origin: A borrowing from Latin. Etymon: Latin būtȳrum
Etymology: < classical Latin būtȳrum (also būtūrum) butter < ancient Greek βούτυρον butter < βοῦς ox, cow (see Bucephalus n.) + τυρός cheese (see tyroma n.).Similar, or perhaps shared, borrowing is shown by forms in other West Germanic languages: Old Frisian butere (West Frisian bûter ), Middle Dutch botre , botere (Dutch boter ), Middle Low German botter , boter , Old High German butira (only in late glossaries; Middle High German buter , German Butter ). The details and date of the borrowing of the Latin word into Germanic languages are uncertain and disputed. The evidence of the Old English forms has been interpreted in more than one way to support conflicting arguments. The Old English forms butur- and butor- are attested only in butterfly n. Specific senses. With use in chemistry denoting a chloride (see Compounds 5b) compare post-classical Latin butyrum antimonii (1608 or earlier), butyrum saturni (1566 or earlier).
1.
a. A pale yellow dairy fat used in cookery and as a spread, made by churning milk or cream and straining off the buttermilk to leave a solid substance.Butter is a soft solid at room temperature which is easily melted. It is typically made from cow's milk or cream, but that of other animals (as sheep, goats, etc.) can also be used. See also yak butter n. at yak n. Compounds 2.Frequently in collocation with bread; see bread and butter n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > dairy produce > butter > [noun]
butterOE
cow-butterc1000
spreader1610
spread1811
dairy butter1874
flab1923
OE Ælfric Catholic Homilies: 2nd Ser. (Cambr. Gg.3.28) xi. 104 Hi ðicgað on ðam earde ele on heora bigleofum, swa swa we doð buteran.
lOE Laws: Rectitudines (Corpus Cambr.) xvi. 451 Cyswyrhtan gebyreð hundred cyse, & þæt heo of wringhwæge buteran macige to hlafordes beode.
?a1160 Anglo-Saxon Chron. (Laud) (Peterborough contin.) anno 1137 Þa was corn dære & flec & cæse & butere, for nan ne wæs o þe land.
c1300 Havelok (Laud) (1868) l. 643 Bred an chese, butere and milk.
a1325 (c1250) Gen. & Exod. (1968) l. 1014 Bred kalues fleis and flures bred And buttere.
c1400 (c1378) W. Langland Piers Plowman (Laud 581) (1869) B. v. l. 444 Bothe bred and ale, butter, melke, and chese.
1440 J. Capgrave Life St. Norbert (1977) l. 924 Lenten metis..Mith him not plese; but he mut nedis certayn Ete buttir and chese.
1546 J. Heywood Dialogue Prouerbes Eng. Tongue ii. vii. sig. Kv Euery promyse that thou therin doest vtter, Is as sure, as it were sealed with butter.
1598 W. Shakespeare Henry IV, Pt. 1 ii. v. 517 A grosse fat man. Car. As fat as butter . View more context for this quotation
1601 P. Holland tr. Pliny Hist. World II. 318 The fattest Butyr is made of Ewes milke.
a1661 R. Bargrave Trav. Diary (1999) 169 My Master..left me Superintendent over the horses & Baggage, having no language, nor any other Victualls, but course Seae bread, and a litle Butture.
1714 J. Gay Shepherd's Week v. 60 Sometimes, like Wax, she rolls the Butter round, Or with the wooden Lilly prints the Pound.
1767 A. Shackleford Mod. Art Cookery Improved 7 Put it into a sauce-pan with a piece of butter, keep it stirring till the butter is melted.
1841 tr. ‘Valery’ Italy & its Comforts iv. 25 Milan is noted for its delicious veal cutlets fried in butter and crumbs.
a1881 M. A. H. Clarke Memorial Vol. (1884) 303 With appetites like demons, come the gentle public in. ‘Toast and butter!’ ‘Eggs and coffee!’ ‘Waiter! Mutton chops for four!’
1915 C. L. Hunt & H. W. Atwater Honey & its Uses in Home (U.S. Dept. Agric. Farmers' Bull. No. 1759) 12 A honey cake made with butter will keep its quality until the butter grows rancid.
1941 F. Naylor World Famous Chefs' Cook Bk. 558 Slightly beat butter, cream and egg white in a bowl.
1961 A. Sillitoe Key to Door (1962) xx. 287 Brian liked to see her doing such things, washing-up, slicing bread, paring cheese, and spreading butter.
2017 Vancouver Sun (Nexis) 25 Nov. 14 Warm bread, straight from the oven, crusty and fragrant and dripping with melted butter.
b. spec. Unsalted clarified butter applied medicinally. Cf. May-butter n. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > constitution of matter > oiliness or greasiness > [noun] > an unguent > specific butter
buttereOE
jessamy-butter1657
jasmine-butter1678
eOE Leechbk. (Royal) (1865) iii. ii. 308 Afleot þæt fam of & ahlyttre þa buteran on blede, do eft þæt hluttre on pannan, gecnua celeþonian.., wyl swiþe.
?a1200 ( Recipe (Harl. 6258B) in T. O. Cockayne Leechdoms, Wortcunning, & Starcraft (1864) I. 380 Wið eafodece pollege..wulle on ele, odðer on clane butere, & smyre þæt heafod mid.
a1382 Bible (Wycliffite, E.V.) (Bodl. 959) (1965) Job xxix. 6 I wesh my feet with butter: & þe ston heeldede to me ryuerys of oile.
a1398 J. Trevisa tr. Bartholomaeus Anglicus De Proprietatibus Rerum (BL Add. 27944) (1975) II. xix. lxxiii. 1332 Buttre draweþ al þe venyme to itself.
1526 Grete Herball iii. sig. Aiiiv/2 Make a supposytory onely of assa fetida anoynted with oyle, butter, or hony for hurtyng.
1643 J. Steer tr. Fabricius Exper. Chyrurg. viii. 34 Let him apply the..Ointment of Sweet Butter [L. unguentum ex butyro recenti] thereto.
a1849 T. L. Beddoes Death's Jest-bk. ii. iii, in Poems (1851) II. 67 A bodily slice Is cured by surgeon's butter.
c. Any of various sauces in which butter is a main ingredient; spec. a sauce made by combining melted butter with flour, water or milk, etc. (esp. in melted butter). Also with modifying word denoting the main flavouring: butter combined with herbs or other ingredients for use as a spread or sauce.garlic butter, green butter, orange butter, parsley butter, etc.: see the first element.Recorded earliest in green butter n. at green adj. and n.1 Compounds 1d(a).
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > additive > sauce or dressing > [noun] > butter sauces
burneux1430
brown butter1653
butter1654
butter saucea1665
melted butter1807
poulette1813
black butter1824
rum butter1824
Montpellier butter1830
maître d'hôtel sauce1845
beurre noir1855
beurréa1865
sugar-butter sauce1901
brandy-butter1939
1654 J. Cooper Art of Cookery 15 Sheeps tongues fryed in greene Butter.
a1665 K. Digby Closet Opened (1669) 221 Pour butter upon the fish.
1709 J. Addison Tatler No. 192. ⁋1 A Plate of Butter which had not been melted to his Mind.
1723 J. Nott Cook's & Confectioner's Dict. sig. G3 To make Parsley, Sage, Thyme, Savoury or Lemon Thyme Butter. Clarify your Butter..mix it with a little of the Chymical Oil of any of the Herbs.
1807 Parl. Deb. 1st Ser. 9 892 It was the sort of poverty of conception, reproached by some foreigner to English cookery, that we had but one sauce, and that that sauce was melted butter.
1823 M. Radcliffe Mod. Syst. Domest. Cookery 263 Good melted butter cannot be made with mere flour and water; there must be a full and proper proportion of butter.
1885 Sun (Baltimore) 2 Feb. Either caper or pickle butter is excellent with any broiled or fried fish.
1925 San Antonio (Texas) Express 3 Jan. 6/3 Pour lemon butter over the asparagus.
1941 L. de Sounin Magic in Herbs viii. 152 Small rye-krisps spread with chive butter are delicious with cream of cucumber soup.
1971 Grand Diplȏme Cookery Course (1972) 113 Bisques..may be flavored with a butter made from the fish coral.
2000 J. Traunfeld Herbfarm Cookbk. iv. 105 Sage butter makes a wonderful sauce on its own, but in this pasta dish I've tossed it with sweet garden peas.
2. figurative.
a. A person's heart, temperament, etc., likened to butter in being soft, yielding, or easily melted. Esp. in heart of butter.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > aspects of emotion > capacity for emotion > sensitiveness or tenderness > [noun] > a tender heart
butter1594
1594 T. Lodge & R. Greene Looking Glasse sig. C3v Truly sir my heart is made of butter, it melts at the least persecution.
1703 P. Motteux et al. tr. M. de Cervantes Hist. Don Quixote III. xxix. 287 What dost thou cry for?... Who hurts thee, thou dastardly Craven, thou Cowardly Mouse, thou Soul of a Milksop, thou Heart of Butter?
1851 H. Mayhew 1851 ii. 17 Sandboys, though naturally possessed of a heart of butter, delighted to assure himself that he carried about a flint in his bosom.
1910 ‘M. Twain’ in Harper's Bazar Feb. 119/2 Martin Luther and Joan of Arc..—that splendid pair equipped with temperaments not made of butter, but of asbestos.
1979 S. Sondheim By the Sea, Pt. 2 (MS sheet music) 6 Me eyelids'll flutter, I'll turn into butter, The moment I mutter, ‘I do-hoo!’
2010 E. Lorello Ordinary World (rev. ed.) ii. 10 That mild tenor that reduced me to butter every time he read to me.
b. Flattering or ingratiating speech or behaviour, esp. when used to gain favour or advantage.In early use with allusion to Psalm 55:21: ‘The words of his mouth were smoother then butter, but warre was in his heart: his words were softer then oyle, but yet were they drawen swords’ (King James Bible).Often used in phrases alluding to sense 1a.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > approval or sanction > commendation or praise > flattery or flattering > [noun]
fickling?c1225
flattering?c1225
oluhningc1225
glozec1290
glozing1297
losengery1303
blandishingc1305
blandingc1315
flatteryc1320
glotheringc1325
soothinga1400
honey word?1406
faginga1425
flatrisec1440
smekingc1440
blandishc1475
blandiment?1510
glavering1545
coggingc1555
good1563
milksop1577
court holy water1583
glavery1583
blandishment1591
lipsalve1591
court holy bread1592
flatter1593
colloguing1596
sooth1597
daub?1602
blandation1605
lullaby1611
court-water1616
butter1618
blandiloquy1623
oil1645
court-element1649
courtshipment1649
courtship1655
blandiloquence1656
court-creama1657
daubing1656
fleecha1700
Spanish money1699
cajole1719
whiting1721
palaver1733
butter boat1747
flummery1749
treacle1771
Spanish coin1785
blancmange1790
blarney1796
soft corn1814
whillywha1816
carney1818
buttering up1819
soft soap1821
flam1825
slaver1825
soft solder1836
soothing syrup1839
soft-soaping1840
plámás1853
sawder1854
soap1854
salve1859
taffy1878
plámásing1897
flannel1927
smarm1937
flannelling1945
sweet talk1945
schmear1950
smarming1950
1618 J. Dyke D. Dyke's Two Treat.: Philemon & Schoole of Affliction vii. 156 Words which are as the prickings of a Sword,..when rather words, as it were suppled with Oyle and Butter, should be vsed.
1669 J. Stewart Jus Populi Vindicatum xxi. 426 He cometh forth in his owne colours, & with his tongue speaketh no flattering words, nor words of butter, but both heart and tongue are full of gall and worm wood.
1823 Blackwood's Edinb. Mag. 14 309 You have been daubed over by the dirty butter of his applause.
1880 World 13 Oct. A lavish interchange of compliments, the butter being laid on pretty thick.
1924 A. Christie Man in Brown Suit xvi. 130 ‘You can manage it. You can manage anything.’ ‘I love butter,’ purred Suzanne.
1978 ‘M. M. Kaye’ Far Pavilions xlix. 883 Stop spreading on the butter and talk sense for a change.
2008 L. D. Johnson After Dance (2010) ii. 122 Even with my talent for laying on the butter thick, and in all the right places, I understood at any given moment the whole thing could come crashing down on me.
3. In extended use.
a. slang. Ejaculated semen. Also (rarely): vaginal fluid produced during sexual activity or arousal.In quot. c1618 in to make butter with one's tail: (of a woman) to have sexual intercourse. Cf. tail n.1 5c.
ΘΚΠ
the world > life > biology > biological processes > procreation or reproduction > reproductive substances or cells > [noun] > sperm > semen > ejaculated
butterc1618
spend1879
ejaculate1927
c1618 Ante Maske of Mountebankes in A. H. Nelson & J. R. Elliott Early Eng. Drama: Inns of Court (2010) II. 565 If lusty Doll mayde of the Dayry Chance to be blew nipt by the fairye for making Butter with her tayle Ile giue her that did neuer fayle.
1668 P. M. Cimmerian Matron 19 in W. Charleton Ephesian & Cimmerian Matrons Her evil destiny to be besmear'd with her own blood, while the more guilty wife was anointed with the Butter of Joy.
?1804 in Merry Muses (Dublin ed.) 117 Nothing but a Roger's strength Can make my butter come.
1938 R. Wright Lawd Today! ii. iii, in Wks. (1991) I. 153 You talk like I don't know how to whip a woman's jelly!.. I can whip it till the butter comes.
2015 @Delibird444 22 Oct. in twitter.com (O.E.D. Archive) Why is everyone ejaculating over nick's voice[?] It's buttery smooth, yeah, but don't shoot your butter over it.
b. Any of various substances, chiefly derived from plants, which resemble butter in appearance or consistency.cocoa butter, mahua butter, palm butter, vegetable butter, etc.: see the first element.
ΚΠ
1682 N. Grew Idea Philos. Hist. Plants 19 in Anat. Plants No Oyl which remained liquid..but instead of that a Butyr, almost of the Consistence and Colour of the Oyl of Mace.
1796 J. G. Stedman Narr. Exped. Surinam II. xx. 115 A cafe-bottle filled with excellent butter..made by melting and clarifying the fat of the palm-tree worms.
1799 M. Park Trav. Interior Districts Afr. xvi. 203 The kernel is enveloped in a sweet pulp, under a thin green rind; and the butter produced from it..is..of a richer flavour, than the best butter I ever tasted made from cows' milk.
1832 London Jrnl. Arts & Sci. Conjoined Ser. 1 241 The palm oil, or butter of palm, is placed in a metallic vessel or boiler.
1877 Garden 25 Aug. 174/1 Spread very clean grease—say a butter made of a mixture of lard and beef suet—upon a plate.
1888 W. T. Brannt Pract. Treat. Animal & Veg. Fats & Oils ix. 332 The butter is prepared in the same manner as the foregoing. It is pure white, has a fine taste and odor, and is an important food and kitchen fat in India.
1944 Dairy Rec. 26 Jan. 7/3 The Butler Food Products Co. of Cedar Lake has entered suit..to determine whether ‘Veg-Oil’, known as ‘Soy Butter’, can be classed as oleomargarine.
1992 Toronto Star (Nexis) 6 Aug. c4 Fresh plant butters, authentic rose water, herbs and essential oils with natural anti-microbial properties are used.
2011 M. Jones Creating Oils, Soaps, Creams, & Herbal Gels 188 Mango butter results in a rich, smooth soap.
c. A scented grease applied to the skin as a perfume or cosmetic, or used as an ingredient in salves, balms, etc.; = pomade n.2 Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > beautification of the person > beautification of the skin or complexion > [noun] > preparations for the skin or complexion
paste?a1425
pomatum1562
reparation1579
pomade1598
lustrification1631
butter?1762
war-paint1869
toiletry1917
face1923
make-up1932
?1762 P. Montague Family Pocket-bk. (new ed.) 132 Mons. Rouille's incomparable lip-salve. Orange butter one drachm; conserve of jessamine, sperma-ceti, and tincture of coral, each half a drachm.
1862 Athenæum 13 Sept. 337/2 Greases thus perfumed were termed butters till within a period of the last twenty-five years, since which the word ‘pomade’ has been more generally adopted.
1885 Encycl. Brit. XVIII. 526 For the manufacture of perfumes for the handkerchief the greases now known as pomades, butters, or philocomes are treated with rectified spirit of wine..which practically completely abstracts the odour.
d. A preserve or paste made from puréed fruit, ground nuts or seeds, etc., typically used as a spread or condiment.apple butter, nut butter, peanut butter, pumpkin butter, etc.: see the first element.
ΚΠ
1832 Nolan County (Texas) News 27 Oct. She also has jams, jellies, marmalades, preserves, and fruit butter.
1898 Market Garden Aug. 14/1 These berries may be taken and made into jellies, jams, and butters.
1917 Weekly News Let. (U.S. Dept. Agric.) 29 Aug. 5/3 Put it [sc. peach pulp] through a colander or coarse wire sieve to make a butter of fine texture.
1978 M. D. Murphy Food Processor Cookery 18 Peanuts, pecans, and other oily nuts can be pureed into a tasty butter.
2002 R. O. Young & S. R. Young pH Miracle iii. 314 Tahini is a butter made from hulled sesame seeds.
e. An unguent or lotion applied to the body as a moisturizer or for cosmetic purposes.body butter, shea butter: see the first element.
ΚΠ
1967 Press-Telegram (Long Beach, Calif.) 24 May f13/4 (advt.) Tanning butter.
1977 Paris (Texas) News 28 June 13 a/3 (advt.) Aloe butter—for tanning or sunburn relief. New skin care product.
1995 P. Weiss Cock-a-doodle-doo xii. 142 Fragrant skin butters, dewberry and pear and mango, in soft foil packages.
2005 Daily News (Halifax, Nova Scotia) (Nexis) 3 Apr. (You section) 11 To give your skin a head start on shorts-and-tank top season, apply the butter of your choice all over just after you emerge from the shower.
2014 Daily Rec. & Sunday Mail (Nexis) 9 Mar. Inspired by tribal spa rituals, this rich moisturising butter nourishes even the driest of skin.

Phrases

P1. (as if) butter wouldn't melt in his (also her, etc.) mouth: used to refer to a person who has a demure, innocent manner or appearance that conceals a bad character, underhand behaviour, etc. Also in elliptical phrases.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > behaviour > affected behaviour or affectation > be affected or act affectedly [verb (intransitive)] > assume air of propriety
(as if) butter wouldn't melt in his (also her, etc.) mouth1530
quaint1590
prim1688
1530 J. Palsgrave Lesclarcissement 620/1 He maketh as thoughe butter wolde nat melte in his mouthe.
a1555 H. Latimer 27 Serm. (1562) ii. f. 38v These felowes..can speake so fynely, that a man would thynke butter shold scant melte in theyr mouthes.
1608 H. Clapham Errour Left Hand i. 8 There, there, he is awaking, I will stand as butter would not melt in my mouth, gazing, crossing, trembling.
1695 E. Ravenscroft Canterbury Guests iv. xi. 48 You Mrs. Jacinta, that look'd As harmless as a Devil of two Years old; and As demure, as if Butter would not melt in your Mouth.
1738 J. Swift Compl. Coll. Genteel Conversat. 43 She looks, as if Butter wou'dn't melt in her Mouth; but I warrant, Cheese won't choak her.
1850 W. M. Thackeray Pendennis II. xxii. 223 She smiles and languishes, you'd think that butter wouldn't melt in her mouth.
1910 H. H. Richardson Getting of Wisdom iv. 37 Laura..consciously wore a fixed little simper, which was meant to put it beyond doubt that butter would not melt in her mouth.
1958 M. Stewart Nine Coaches Waiting vi. 82 You don't think she has that sour-milk face for Madam, do you? Oh, no, it's all niminy-piminy butter-won't-melt there, you mark my words.
2002 T. McKinley Windflowers xv. 297 ‘Miss perfect,’ she spat. ‘Little miss goody-two-shoes. Butter wouldn't bloody melt would it?’
P2. to make butter and cheese of: (perhaps) to thwart, to make difficulties for (a person). Obsolete. rare. [Apparently after ancient Greek τυρεύειν to make cheese, in Hellenistic Greek also to contrive by trickery and intrigue.]
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > belief > uncertainty, doubt, hesitation > perplexity, bewilderment > act of perplexing > perplex, nonplus [phrase]
to bring (drive, or put) to one's wit's end1377
to cast (also throw) a mist before a person's eyes?a1475
to set (also run) on ground1600
to make butter and cheese of1642
to put to the gaze1646
philogrobolized in one's brains1653
to strike all of (on) a heap1711
to blow, cast, throw stour in one's eyes1823
knot1860
to give (one) furiously to think1910
1642 J. Hales Tract conc. Schisme 11 They made butter and cheese one of another.
P3.
a. a person's bread (also toast) always falls butter side up (also down) and variants: used to suggest that the person in question has consistently good (or bad) luck.See also slightly earlier variant with buttered at buttered adj. Phrases 1.
ΚΠ
1834 S. Smith Sel. Lett. Major Jack Downing lxii. 163 When he lets his slice fall..it always somehow falls butter side up.
1991 S. Pinsker Schlemiel as Metaphor (rev. ed.) i. 2 When a schlimazl's bread-and-butter accidently falls on the floor it always lands butter-side down.
2002 Sunday Tribune (Ireland) (Nexis) 8 Sept. 2 McCarthy gave him the captain's armband for Ireland's next match. So what's going on? Who knows? But McAteer..is one of those people whose toast always falls butter-side up.
b. bread (also toast) always falls butter side down and variants: used to express the belief that anything that can go wrong will go wrong. Cf. Murphy's Law n.See also slightly later variant with buttered at buttered adj. Phrases 2.
ΚΠ
1829 Amer. Masonic Reg. 23 Nov. 94/1 Everything goes wrong... At breakfast..the coffee was scalding hot, the toast fell into my lap, butter side down.]
1851 Knickerbocker Dec. 617 Alas! all bread and butter falls butter-side down: the boat would upset every now and then.
1981 New Scientist 2 July 41/3 Sod's Law: T'is famous..That the bread that you drop..In response to this law When it reaches the floor Will always land butter side down.
2015 Express (Nexis) 24 Nov. 14 As temperatures plunge to freezing,..boilers..conk out and every repair man within miles can't come until next week,..just as the toast always falls butter side down.
P4.
a. with one's nose in the butter and variants: in a very fortunate or advantageous situation or position. Chiefly in to fall (also land) with one's nose in the butter: to have extremely good fortune. Cf. with one's bum in the butter at Phrases 4b. [Compare Dutch met zijn neus in de boter vallen, lit. ‘to fall with one's nose into the butter’ (1781 or earlier), met zijn neus in't vet raken, lit. ‘to get with one's nose into the fat’ (1613 or earlier), and similar expressions in the same literal and figurative senses; of uncertain precise origin.]
ΚΠ
1918 Lake Representative (Fox Lake, Wisconsin) 10 Oct. 1/6 The nurse asked a man if he didn't think he was pretty lucky to get in on the party. He said: ‘Why Yes, I fell with nose right in the butter’.
1932 J. Dos Passos 1919 352 He lands with his nose in the butter every time... Anyway I'm glad there's one successful member of the family.
1948 Dayton (Ohio) Daily News 17 Oct. ii. 2/1 Van says, ‘He's a nice fellow. Gets a lot of money for the work he is doing—if you can call it work, marrying into power that way. Yes, sir, he fell with his nose in the butter.’
2002 Daily News (N.Y.) 29 Nov. 87/2 Your Stars... Virgo... It's a day to take a shot in the dark. As the Dutch say, you'll land with your nose in the butter.
b. Chiefly South African, British, and Australian. with one's bum (also arse, ass, etc.) in the butter and variants: in a very fortunate or advantageous situation or position. Esp. in to land with one's bum (also arse, ass, etc.) in the butter (cf. to fall with one's nose in the butter at Phrases 4a). [Compare Dutch met zijn aars in de boter vallen (1726 or earlier), Afrikaans om met sy gat in die botter te val, lit. ‘to fall with one's arse into the butter’, and similar expressions (in the same literal and figurative senses); of uncertain precise origin, but probably understood as alluding to a soft landing.]
ΚΠ
1960 H. Rucker Wolf Tree xxiii. 294 He drives himself too. Just as if he didn't marry Miss Caroline, and, excuse me, ladies, put his butt in a tub of butter.
1971 R. Christie For President's Eyes Only x. 93 You, of course, have landed with your bum in the butter once more. You'll have to..go to the Victoria Falls and spend a week there making like a bloody tourist!
1979 Listener 28 June 870/1 Why the fuck should I get my ass shot off out here in the bush to protect the kaffirs sitting back there with their bums in the butter?
1987 ‘D. Kavanagh’ Going to Dogs iv. 94 Vic's doing all right for himself. Bum in the butter.
2008 Brisbane News (Nexis) 23 July 11 I had an interview on the spot and started the next day. I just landed with my bum in the butter to be honest.
2015 @jeremyoos 17 Sept. in twitter.com (O.E.D. Archive) You have the keys to the kingdom. Fell with your arse in the butter. Golden spoon in your mouth. Good luck and enjoy!

Compounds

C1.
a. General attributive, as butter cart, butter dairy, butter firkin, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > preparation of dairy produce > [noun] > dairy
dairyc1290
dey-house1342
dairy-house1530
milkhouse1554
milkness1691
milk room1698
butter dairy1784
cheesery1836
creamery1872
eOE Cleopatra Gloss. in J. J. Quinn Minor Lat.-Old Eng. Glossaries in MS Cotton Cleopatra A.III (Ph.D. diss., Stanford Univ.) (1956) 63 Uas buteri, buterstoppa.
1572 in J. Raine Wills & Inventories N. Counties Eng. (1835) I. 249 One butter-skepp.
1603 T. Dekker 1603: Wonderfull Yeare sig. D4v The Low-countries (that are built vpon butter-firkins, and holland cheese).
1643 J. Howell Disc. betwixt Patricius & Peregrine 8 He swore, That hee would drowne the Hollanders in their Butter-tubs.
1693 T. Urquhart & P. A. Motteux tr. F. Rabelais 3rd Bk. Wks. xvii. 139 A great Butter-pot full of fresh Cheese.
1764 St. James's Chron. 18 Feb. She told the Boy she must go to a Butter Shop in Clare-Market.
1784 J. Twamley Dairying Exemplified 81 A near relation of mine, who kept a Butter Dairy.
1808 C. Vancouver Gen. View Agric. Devon viii. 231 The butter-merchants in London.
1828 M. R. Mitford Our Village III. 308 [They] would run to meet the butter-cart as if it were a carriage and four.
1843 Bristol Mercury 13 May 7/3 A boy saw the prisoner..knock up the top of a butter cask, scoop a quantity of the butter out, and make off with it.
1893 W. Fream Youatt's Compl. Grazier (ed. 13) ii. iii. 260 A butter dairy should comprise two distinct compartments, one for receiving the milk, another for performing the operation of churning.
1904 J. W. Streeter Fat of Land xxxii. 184 Can't they drive the butter-cart out each morning and home after school?
1942 Pop. Sci. Monthly Oct. 149/1 This film-processing outfit was made from a 3-gal. butter crock and a 3-gal. tin milk cooler costing together less than a dollar.
1968 E. Kellner Devil & Aunt Serena 172 Skinny..scooped a pound of fresh butter from the butter tub into a thin beech-wood shell.
2014 Bangor (Maine) Daily News (Nexis) 21 Mar. Ken attended Wheaton College, traveling to Chicago by train, his lunch packed in a butter firkin and a few dollars tucked in his shoe.
2017 Times (Nexis) 15 June (T2) (headline) Soon there may be as many luxury butter merchants as there are bijou bakeries.
b. Objective, as butter buyer, butter churning, butter maker, butter making, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > preparation of dairy produce > [noun] > churning butter
churningc1440
butter making1751
the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > preparation of dairy produce > [noun] > churning butter > butter-maker
butterman1296
butter wife?1542
butter-woman1612
churner1888
butter maker2016
1587 W. Harrison Hist. Descr. Iland Brit. (new ed.) ii. xviii. 203/2 in Holinshed's Chron. (new ed.) I When..fewer of these butter buiers were stirring, our butter was scarslie woorth eighteene pence the gallon, that now is worth three shillings foure pence.
1652 Mercurius Democritus No. 14. 105 The Piscaterian Butter-eaters, which are now a sending up to Billings-gate.
1720 London Gaz. No. 5879/4 William Dixon..Buttermonger.
1751 Lady M. W. Montagu Let. 19 June (1966) II. 485 I expect Immortality from the Science of Butter makeing.
1839 S. Judd Let. 6 July in A. Hall Life & Char. Rev. S. Judd (1854) 158 This three times a day, table-gathering and beef-eating, butter-spreading and tea-drinking,..makes one wonderfully content with life.
1863 Eclectic Rev. Mar. 225 [He] excites thrillings of delightful hope in the gentle hearts of buttermongers' daughters.
1890 E. H. Barker Wayfaring in France 251 In the markets, the butter-sellers stand in rows, holding their baskets in front of them.
1912 Bull. Internat Labour Office 7 87 The work..performed by a woman in a butter factory, viz :—(1) churning; (2) butter-washing; (3) butter-salting; (4) butter-kneading.
1953 Quick 9 Mar. 16 Butter producers mapped a ‘fight back’ against substitutes which have made inroads into the butter market.
1983 D. Armstrong Insider's Guide to Health Foods ix. 173 Sad to say, butter lovers, our favorite spread is high in cholesterol.
2000 M. McDonald Shadows in Glasshouse xiii. 123 I had skills that were wanted here as a planter's wife, in baking, butter-churning, and cheese-making.
2016 Business Times (Singapore) (Nexis) 26 Mar. There's only one artisanal butter maker.
c. Similative, with the sense ‘like butter’, as butter-bright, butter-smooth, butter-soft, etc.
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the world > matter > light > intensity of light > [adjective] > bright > as or with specific things
steel-brighta1560
eyebright1607
butter-bright1868
brass-bright1908
the world > space > shape > flatness or levelness > smoothness > [adjective] > smooth and slippery
slippera1050
slibbery?c1225
slidderya1250
slidder1398
lubric1490
slid1513
slippery1551
icy?1552
slipperous1585
glib1594
gliding1594
slicked1594
glibbery1601
lubrical1602
slape1671
slithery1825
slithy1855
butter-smooth1868
slick1901
1868 G. M. Hopkins 17 July in Jrnls. & Papers (1959) 176 The sun coming out..with a butter-bright lustre.
1920 J. Galsworthy In Chancery ii. v. 170 His grandfather's first gold hunter watch, butter-smooth with age.
1941 M. Seeley Chuckling Fingers vii. 92 Her butter-pale, sagging cheeks mottled with an unpleasant blue.
1960 Newsweek 2 May 31/1 A butter-bland performer with no ascertainable talent beyond the ability to mouth amiable inanities.
1980 Field & Stream Oct. 116/3 Wading through swirling pools and climbing over butter-slick boulders.
2011 C. Moran How to be Woman (2012) ix. 207 They will all be made of butter-soft leather.
C2. In the names of types of food and drink in which butter is a main ingredient.
butter ale n. now historical and archaic a drink consisting of ale boiled with sugar, spices, butter, and sometimes eggs.More commonly called buttered ale.
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the world > food and drink > drink > intoxicating liquor > ale or beer > ale > [noun] > flavoured ale
Welsh aleeOE
braggetc1405
buttered ale1547
sage ale1584
wormwood-ale1603
bragoes1605
mace-ale1605
China-ale1659
horseradish ale1664
butter ale1666
1666 S. Pepys Diary 17 Mar. (1972) VII. 75 Home, having a great cold..so to bed, drinking butter-ale.
1908 E. R. Emerson Beverages, Past & Present II. x. 248 Butter-ale was most plentiful in the seventeenth century.
2016 D. Polansky City Dreaming ii. 74 ‘Fresh butter ale?’ he asked. ‘Absolutely,’ M said.
butter bake n. originally Scottish a sweet biscuit made with butter.
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1817 D. MacKillop Orig. Poems & Songs 33 An' butter baiks, an' penny baps.
1850 A. M'Gilvray Poems & Songs 88 Pies, parlies, tarts, and butter bakes.
2015 @alinicebuns 6 Jan. in twitter.com (O.E.D. Archive) Viennesse [sic] whirls, ‘old skool’ butter bakes sandwiched with vanilla frosting and raspberry jam.
butter bread n. (a) bread made from dough enriched with butter; (b) bread spread with butter; buttered bread; a slice of this.
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1718 Illustrious Mod. 13 By the way, 'tis only to make a Butter-Bread.
1852 Englishwoman's Domest. Mag. 1 Nov. 212/2 He returned to the girl of his heart with a butterbread adorned with caviar and sausage.
1909 Lincoln (Nebraska) Daily Star 21 Sept. 6/4 There is nothing that can supplant butter-bread.
1995 Re: Whew! am I Tired in rec.food.cooking (Usenet newsgroup) 7 Dec. The chance that a butterbread will fall on the carpet with the buttered side down is exponetially [sic] proportional to the value of the carpet.
2015 @WhiskeyDed 25 Feb. in twitter.com (O.E.D. Archive) I, in all my life, have never been so ready to buy a loaf of butter bread.
butter cake n. a light, moist, usually leavened cake containing butter, sugar, flour, and eggs.
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the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > cake > [noun] > a cake > rich cake
spice-cake1530
sugar-cake1600
plum cake1606
butter cake1616
pound cake1743
black cake1823
Dundee cake1836
gâteau1845
fat-rascal1868
Dundee1920
Lane cake1921
1616 T. Scot Irish Banquet in Philomythie sig. I7 So they call their butter cakes.
1827 Standard 9 July 1/3 I gave her a butter-cake to dinner, and some beer.
2014 Time Out Kuala Lumpur Mar. 30/2 He steers clear of butter cakes and focuses on..alcoholic mousse cakes.
butter chicken n. an Indian dish consisting of pieces of chicken, usually cooked in a tandoor, served in a mild, creamy curry sauce.
ΚΠ
1978 Washington Post Mag. 15 Oct. 45/2 Butter chicken, a lovely buttery stew with bits of onion, green pepper and tomato over the tandoori-roasted chicken.
1995 C. Panjabi Great Curries India 9 Khyber served Punjabi food with favorites like tandooris, butter chicken and choles.
2015 N.Y. Mag. 7 Sept. 80/2 The predictably lustrous butter chicken, which Singh and his cooks prepare with milk and fenugreek folded with fried shallots, tomatoes, and generous chunks of free-range bird.
butter cookie n. U.S. A plain, crisp biscuit whose chief ingredients are butter, flour, and sugar.
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1879 Daily Evening Bull. (San Francisco) 20 Dec. 6/4 Butter Cookies. One cupful of sugar, one cupful of butter, two eggs.
1957 Washington Post 15 Nov. c6/2 At Yuletide the cookie jar is filled with..the mouth watering butter cookie from Scandinavia.
2015 N. Solomon Love Bk. xxiv. 228 She walked through the front door..with a tin of butter cookies.
butter crust n. pastry made with butter (as opposed to lard, suet, etc.); esp. such pastry used for the crust of a pie, etc.
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1845 E. Acton Mod. Cookery xvii. 439 (heading) Butter crust for puddings.
1936 Washington Post 18 Apr. 12/2 They [sc. apple dumplings] are tempting to look at, tempting to eat, with their rich, golden brown butter crust, filled with spicy flavored apples.
2018 Premium Official News Newswire (Nexis) 25 Jan. We'll learn the basics of pie making techniques starting with a homemade butter crust.
butter icing n. (a) a paste made from butter and flour, used to decorate savoury dishes (obsolete rare); (b) a soft paste, often flavoured or coloured, made by beating icing sugar into butter and used as a topping or filling for cakes.
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1862 I. Williamson Pract. Cookery & Pastry (ed. 5) 187 Butter Icing for Ornamenting Cold Fowls, Tongues, and other Meats. Beat over a stove till smooth half a pound of white fresh butter; then add three ounces of fine sifted flour.
1874 A. Gouffé tr. J. Gouffé Royal Bk. Pastry & Confectionery ii. viii. 262 Flavour some Butter Icing..with coffee, put it into a paper cone, and press it out on each cake and round the crust.
1966 Times 21 Nov. (Women's Features section) 13/5 Use a chocolate finger biscuit and secure with butter icing.
2003 M. Satz Heirloom Cookbk. 73/2 Frost one-half of cookies with a vanilla butter icing, and the other half with a cocoa icing.
butter pecan n. U.S. a flavour of ice cream (or other dessert), typically made with roasted pecans, butter, and vanilla; frequently attributive.
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1923 Monroe (Louisiana) News-Star 29 Oct. 4/6 (advt.) Bond's Barker Bakery..complete line of fancy cakes..butter pecan rolls..fruit pies.
1951 Wichita Daily Times (Wichita Falls, Texas) 8 May 8/5 Put one chocolate-covered Brazil nut in the bottom of a glass dish, add one..dipper of butter pecan ice cream.
2014 C. Levy Running with Big Dogs x. 88 I had to go with my favorite, butter pecan, and Maggie picked cookie dough.
butter pie n. (a) U.S. a dessert pie or tart made with sugar, flour, and butter; (b) English regional (Lancashire) a savoury pie consisting of potatoes, onions, and butter.
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1874 Catholic Standard (Philadelphia, Pa.) 23 May 6/3 Butter pie... Take a piece of fresh butter the size of an egg, two-thirds cup of sugar, one of sweet cream, one tablespoon of flour, and sugar together, then stir in the cream.
1951 Bedford (Pa.) Gaz. 25 Sept. 5/7 Just before we left, Mr. Bird gave me a popular community recipe for a Butter Pie.
1999 Butter Pies in alt.music.manics (Usenet newsgroup) 7 Jan. Since going veggie, my favourite pie is a butter pie.
2015 @Mike_Jung 22 Oct. in twitter.com (O.E.D. Archive) Come on, I ate 3 pieces! The butter pie presented psychic hurdles—no illusions to it, 100% fat & sugar.
2016 Independent (Nexis) 20 July The rest of May's new team wouldn't recognise a butter pie if it hit them in the face.
butter sauce n. a sauce containing butter as a main ingredient.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > additive > sauce or dressing > [noun] > butter sauces
burneux1430
brown butter1653
butter1654
butter saucea1665
melted butter1807
poulette1813
black butter1824
rum butter1824
Montpellier butter1830
maître d'hôtel sauce1845
beurre noir1855
beurréa1865
sugar-butter sauce1901
brandy-butter1939
a1665 K. Digby Closet Opened (1669) 223 Boil Whitings as if you would eat them in the Ordinary way with thick Butter-sauce.
1733 V. La Chapelle Mod. Cook III. 119 You may..dish them up with a small Remoulade, a Butter Sauce, or a Ravigotte.
1871 Fun 25 Feb. 86 (caption) They be artichokes for squire's dinner—they serve them wi' butter sauce in silver dishes.
1953 W. A. Roberts Havana 252 One of the best styles is almendrina, which means a covering of crushed almonds with a butter sauce.
2010 New Yorker 12 July 20/3 A delicate grilled branzino was made less so by a thick butter sauce.
butter tart n. Canadian a tart with a filling of butter, eggs, and brown sugar, typically with raisins, walnuts, or pecans.
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1941 Brandon (Manitoba) Daily Sun 2 May 5/7 (advt.) Fresh Pies... Butter Tarts, Cake, Doughnuts.
1972 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 7 Aug. 25/4 Do you serve butter tarts with coffee?
2005 R. Aubert Red Mass vii. 113 He tried to balance hot chocolate and a butter tart in one hand, as he observed the others doing.
butter tea n. a drink made with tea and butter, widely consumed in the Himalayan regions of Nepal, Bhutan, India, and Tibet. Traditionally made with butter from yak's milk. [Compare Chinese sūyóu chá (a1609 or earlier; < sūyóu butter + chá tea: see cha n.); in Tibetan, it is called ja srun-mo, lit. ‘tea which is mild’ (made ‘mild’ by mixing with butter and salt) and bod ja, lit. ‘Tibetan tea’.]
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1907 Wisconsin Valley Leader 26 Sept. 2/2 We made the stage to Bakmed before noon and had a refreshing meal of barley flour and butter tea.
1990 Nat. World Spring 29 (advt.) Have you ever thought of... Drinking butter tea with Tibetan monks?
2008 M. Akester tr. T. Khétsun Memories Life in Lhasa under Chinese Rule xi. 137 She shed tears as she welcomed me, and right away made some tasty, nourishing butter tea.
butter toast n. now chiefly U.S. toast spread with butter; buttered toast.
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the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > bread > bread with spread or filling > [noun] > bread with butter, jam, or other spread
bread and butter1533
butterham1713
butter toast1757
tartine1804
butty1827
punk and plaster1891
thunder and lightning1905
cinnamon toast1927
jam-butty1927
1757 E. Kimber Juvenile Adventures David Ranger I. xi. 287 Davy..found him poring over his schemes of traffick, and munching his butter toast.
1826 R. Polwhele Trad. & Recoll. II. 381 I found time to..treat him with butter-toast for his supper, and butter-toast for his breakfast.
1904 Hotel Monthly July 31/2 Dry or butter toast.
2017 @Tylerjayholden 31 Jan. in twitter.com (O.E.D. Archive) I have been living on butter toast these last few days.
C3.
butter-and-egg man n. U.S. slang a dairyman; a provincial farmer or businessman characterized as unsophisticated or easily duped.
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the mind > possession > wealth > [noun] > rich or wealthy person > rich and unsophisticated person
butter-and-egg man1867
society > trade and finance > management of money > expenditure > [noun] > one who spends > unsophisticated man who spends freely
butter-and-egg man1867
1867 Dundee Courier & Argus 28 Jan. He say he get me in as a porter to a cheesemonger or butter and egg man, a Misser Thomson-Brown-Smit.
1882 Rocky Mountain News (Denver) 5 Mar. 4/3 The editor's eye Just happened to spy The butter-and-egg-man's bright look.
1948 Antioch Rev. Spring 105 The ‘butter-and-egg’ man who startles the foreign lecturer with blunt questions.
1995 H. Roth Mercy of Rude Stream iii. viii. 358 You were a liberated, vanguard bohemian; you sneered at the Babbitts and the big butter-and-egg men.
butter badger n. [ < butter n.1 + badger n.1] originally English regional and Irish English (northern) an itinerant trader who buys butter from farmers to sell wholesale.Now only in historical contexts.In quot. 1739 as the name of a racehorse.
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1739 in J. Cheny Hist. List Horse-matches Run 17 Butter-Badger.]
1839 Penny Mag. 15 June 228/1 A butter-badger is still an essential personage in every little isolated community. He is a person who collects butter from house to house weekly.
1857 Fraser's Mag. Sept. 355/2 His father was at one time a butter-badger.
1999 V. León Uppity Women of Renaissance 100 Being a wholesaler was no holiday. Edith was only street-legal for a year—after which, she had to apply and pay again to be a bloomin' butter Badger.
butterbag n. slang (derogatory) Obsolete a Dutchman.With reference to the fact that the Dutch were regarded as prolific eaters of butter. Cf. butterbox n. and butter-mouth n.
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the world > people > nations > native or inhabitant of Europe > native or inhabitant of the Low Countries > [adjective] > Dutch
butter-moutha1549
Dutchkin1576
Hollandish1611
vanden1639
butterbag1645
hogan1651
hogen mogen1653
butter bowzy1719
Batavian1795
Dutchy1862
1645 J. Howell Epistolæ Ho-elianæ ii. xi. 13 The butterbag Hollander.
butter barrel n. (a) a barrel used to store butter; (b) English regional and Irish English a barrel fitted with a paddle that may be rotated by means of a handle in order to churn cream into butter; a barrel churn.
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the world > food and drink > food > container for food > [noun] > container for butter
butter-kit1567
butter barrel1608
butterbox1614
cool1792
society > occupation and work > equipment > receptacle or container > vessel > barrel or cask > [noun] > for specific contents
meal fat1360
butter barrel1608
beer-barrel1753
water breaker1834
blubber-cask1835
nail-keg1837
1608 Closet for Ladies & Gentlewomen 59 When it is almost cold, put in a hundreth of Cowcumbers into that liquor, into a butter barrel & keepe them al the yeare.
1757 State of Process Earl of Galloway against Earl of Morton 164 He does now, and always, since his Father's Death, has made the Butter Barrels and Half-barrels by the same Gauge by which his Father made these Casks.
1844 W. Barnes Poems Rural Life in Dorset Dial. 46 The butter-barrel An' cheese-press.
1942 J. E. Lips Tents in Wilderness i. 28 There were..canned goods and tea packages, flour bags and butter barrels.
2015 Irish Daily Mail (Nexis) 23 July Butter barrels and cheese presses are used to demonstrate the basics of cheese, cream and yoghurt-making.
butter-basher n. slang (depreciative) a person who has recently taken up work as a taxi driver, esp. during a strike.On the (uncertain) origin of the term see note at butter boy n.
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society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > transport by vehicles plying for hire > [noun] > driving or hiring of cabs > driver of hired cab > driver of taxi-cab > new
butter-basher1939
butter boy1939
1939 H. Hodge Cab, Sir? xv. 216 Contemptuous cabmen, therefore, called these blacklegs ‘Butter-Bashers’.
butterbitten adj. Obsolete rare (perhaps) given to biting butter (perhaps cf. bitten adj. 2).Perhaps with reference to the fact that the Dutch were regarded as prolific eaters of butter.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > consumption of food or drink > eating > eating specific substances or food > [adjective] > eating butter
butterbitten1573
1573 G. Gascoigne Hundreth Sundrie Flowres sig. Ddii The Dutche with butterbitten iawes.
butter boat n. (a) a jug used for serving melted butter; (b) figurative (colloquial) excessive or insincere flattery (cf. sense 2b).
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > approval or sanction > commendation or praise > flattery or flattering > [noun]
fickling?c1225
flattering?c1225
oluhningc1225
glozec1290
glozing1297
losengery1303
blandishingc1305
blandingc1315
flatteryc1320
glotheringc1325
soothinga1400
honey word?1406
faginga1425
flatrisec1440
smekingc1440
blandishc1475
blandiment?1510
glavering1545
coggingc1555
good1563
milksop1577
court holy water1583
glavery1583
blandishment1591
lipsalve1591
court holy bread1592
flatter1593
colloguing1596
sooth1597
daub?1602
blandation1605
lullaby1611
court-water1616
butter1618
blandiloquy1623
oil1645
court-element1649
courtshipment1649
courtship1655
blandiloquence1656
court-creama1657
daubing1656
fleecha1700
Spanish money1699
cajole1719
whiting1721
palaver1733
butter boat1747
flummery1749
treacle1771
Spanish coin1785
blancmange1790
blarney1796
soft corn1814
whillywha1816
carney1818
buttering up1819
soft soap1821
flam1825
slaver1825
soft solder1836
soothing syrup1839
soft-soaping1840
plámás1853
sawder1854
soap1854
salve1859
taffy1878
plámásing1897
flannel1927
smarm1937
flannelling1945
sweet talk1945
schmear1950
smarming1950
the world > food and drink > food > setting table > table utensils > [noun] > table-vessels > dish or plate > butter dish
butter plate1490
buttercup1497
butter dish1559
butter boat1747
1747 George Faulkner Dublin Jrnl. 7 Feb. A large parcel of china tea pots and china bowls, china jars, butter boats, a large parcel of coffee and chocolate cups, and several other sorts of china.
1807 Ld. Byron To Miss Pigot 5 July Upset a butter-boat in the lap of a lady.
1866 J. E. H. Skinner After Storm I. 181 He praised some things and gave advice about others, using the butter-boat less freely than is customary at volunteer inspections.
2008 A. S. Martin Buying into World of Goods 1 Mrs. George Callaway's purchases in the previous year included porcelain cups and saucers, a pinch box (for snuff), and a butter boat and stand.
butter boy n. slang (depreciative) a person who has recently taken up work as a taxi driver.Explained in the source quoted in quot. 1939 as originally alluding (like butter-basher n.) to new drivers during a strike in 1913 who were thought to be underqualified and perceived as until recently employed as assistants in groceries and food shops; however, later explained (cf. quots. 1960, 2012) as alluding to new drivers taking the ‘bread and butter’, or means of subsistence, from established drivers. Perhaps cf. also earlier butterfly n. 2d.
ΘΚΠ
society > travel > transport > transport or conveyance in a vehicle > transport by vehicles plying for hire > [noun] > driving or hiring of cabs > driver of hired cab > driver of taxi-cab > new
butter-basher1939
butter boy1939
1939 H. Hodge Cab, Sir? x. 134 During my ‘butter-boy’ period.
1960 C. Ray Merry Eng. 26 [The] owner-driver..is called a ‘butter-boy’ when he first appears on the rank, taking the butter from the older hands' bread, they say.
2012 Guardian (Nexis) 10 Dec. (G2 section) 11/2 We're known as ‘butter boys’ in the trade, because we take the bread and butter from the mouths of established drivers' families.
butter cloth n. a thin, loosely woven cloth with a fine mesh used for various purposes, esp. to wrap butter and to strain the whey from the curd during cheese-making; (also) a piece of such cloth; cf. cheesecloth n. at cheese n.1 Compounds 2.
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the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > textile fabric made from specific material > cotton > [noun] > fine, light, or delicate > muslin > for wrapping butter
butter cloth1540
butter muslin1884
1540 Inventory in Lisle Lett. (1981) VI. 209 Item iij Chese clothys & iij buttor clothes.
1658 Archimagirus Anglo-gallicus 69 Boile a pottle of milk and a quart of creame together, and when it is cold, set it to come with Runnet, when it is come, whey it in a butter cloth very well, then breake it small with some good cream.
1885 O. Wilde Lett. (1962) 172 My wife has a huge bill against you—for your meat-safe and the buttercloth.
1910 H. B. Wilkinson Old Hanging Ditch x. 88 Shipments of salt Cork butter packed in butter-cloth and surrounded by salt and pickle, were made to the Antipodes.
1999 B. Ciletti Making Great Cheese at Home 46 Pour the curds into a colander lined with cheesecloth or buttercloth.
butter cooler n. a container used for keeping butter cool.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > setting table > table utensils > [noun] > other tableware or items for table
pewter1426
warnera1552
nef1567
pewtery1645
hollow-ware1682
equipage1683
flatware1686
napkin ring1686
pewterware1738
egg cup1773
dish-rim1774
butter cooler1784
dish-cross1785
argyll1789
toast-rack1801
centrepiece1836
table centrepiece1850
silverware1862
doily1864
table centre1865
potato ring1888
egg-cosy1894
sandwich flag1907
cheese board1916
Lazy Susan1917
1784 Caledonian Mercury 29 Nov. Butter coolers.
1875 G. H. Lewes Probl. Life & Mind II. 135 The china service and glass butter-cooler.
2005 Independent (Nexis) 3 Dec. 49 A skilled thrower making, among other items, small jugs, porridge bowls, egg-bakers, soup pots, eggcups, butter coolers and jam pots.
butter cow n. a cow yielding rich cream from which superior butter can be made.
ΚΠ
1819 Morning Post 18 Aug. (advt.) Guernsey Butter Cows.
1877 4th Rep. Vermont State Board Agric. 1876–7 46 We..believe that the Jersey as a butter cow has the advantage of at least the average life time of man.
1916 Guernsey Breeders' Jrnl. 15 Sept. 241/1 She is a wonderful butter cow, and..her descendants ought to prove very valuable.
1980 Agric. Hist. 54 330 Other Chelsea meetings witnessed debates on..whether Jerseys or Holsteins made the superior butter cow.
butter cross n. a cross, spire, or covered building within a marketplace, indicating the area designated for the sale of dairy foods and other home produce.
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society > trade and finance > trading place > market > [noun] > market-place > parts of market-place
stannary1668
butter cross1677
pit1932
1677 R. Thoroton Antiq. Notts. (caption) Butter Cross.
1883 F. Marryat Moment Madness III. 170 Their old-world institutions and buildings—their butter crosses and market steps.
2001 Birmingham Post (Nexis) 10 Nov. 54 In the centre of the village is the ancient Butter Cross dating from the days when this was a bustling market town.
butter curler n. a serrated kitchen utensil used to shave butter to make decorative, curled shapes.
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1868 Farmer's Mag. Sept. 222/2 Variety of butter prints for farm and private houses, boxwood butter beaters and slices, butter curlers, boards, trainers, skimmers, laders.
1938 Daily Mail 6 July 19 This ingeniously simple butter curler costs only sixpence.
2013 O. Zanini De Vita & M. B. Fant Sauces & Shapes 105 Using a butter curler or small knife, curl or scrape all the butter and strew the pieces evenly over a plate.
butter factor n. now historical a tradesman who buys butter from farmers to sell wholesale.
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society > trade and finance > trader > traders or dealers in specific articles > [noun] > in food and drink > in specific foodstuffs
saltera1000
oilman1275
oysterman1305
pepperer1309
butchera1325
mealman1527
pepper mana1661
butter factor1696
porkman1749
flour-factor1815
macaroni dealer1854
1696 L. Meriton Pecuniæ obediunt Omnia lxxv. 55 (heading) On butter buyers or factors.
1808 C. Vancouver Gen. View Agric. Devon viii. 230 The butter-factors at Honiton.
1908 Irish Times 15 Feb. 7/3 A Dublin butter factor stated yesterday that not being able to buy Irish butter a fortnight ago he bought danish at 1s. 1½d. a pound wholesale.
2016 Dungog (Austral.) Chron. 27 May Now there would be less than 20 suppliers in the area and the butter factor is long gone.
butterfat n. the natural fat contained in milk and dairy products.Butterfat is a mixture of triglycerides, particularly those derived from fatty acids such as palmitic, oleic, myristic, and stearic acids.
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the world > food and drink > food > dairy produce > butter > [noun] > butter fat
butterfat1871
1871 Lancet 3 June 759/1 Whilst genuine butter ought to contain upwards of 83 per cent. of real butter fat, certain kinds of butter contain very much less.
1906 Macmillan's Mag. June 612 If wanting in butter-fat, it [sc. milk] was not fit for the purpose for which it had been sold.
1998 Guardian 21 Nov. (Weekend Suppl.) 78/1 You can sometimes find cream with a butterfat content as low as 12 per cent, but single cream normally has 18 per cent, and double cream 48 per cent.
2011 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 11 Sept. (Travel section) 8/2 The secret to the superiority of the cheese in this region..is the high butterfat content of the milk produced by brown swiss cows.
butter knife n. a blunt knife used for cutting or spreading butter.
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the world > food and drink > food > setting table > table utensils > [noun] > cutlery > knife
fish-knife1403
board-knifec1440
table knifea1475
butter knife1729
dessert-knife1793
balance-knife1833
cuttoe1851
steak knife1895
1729 R. Bradley Gentleman & Farmer's Guide iii. 190 Many other necessary Utensils are made of Horn; as Spoons, Butter-Knives, &c.
1870 ‘F. Fern’ Ginger-snaps 54 Some houses contain only silver soup-ladles, others a superabundance of butter-knives.
2011 J. Feather Wedding Wager xvii. 351 Her mother contented herself by attacking her toast with the butter knife.
butter lamp n. a goblet-shaped lamp with a central wick, traditionally fed with clarified butter instead of oil.Used especially as a devotional offering in Tibetan Buddhist temples. [Compare Chinese sūyóu dēng (18th cent. or earlier; < sūyóu butter + dēng lamp) and Tibetan mar me ( < mar butter + me fire).]
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the world > matter > light > artificial light > an artificial light > artificial light defined by light-source > [noun] > oil-lamp > burning specific types of oil
butter lamp1852
blubber-lamp1856
1852 W. Hazlitt tr. E. R. Huc Trav. in Tartary, Thibet & China II. ix. 279 At the end of the saloon were three colossal statues of Buddha, before which were placed large butter lamps [Fr. lampes à beurre] and censers.
1883 J. Gilmour Among Mongols vi. 83 The altar on which a butter-lamp was then burning.
2006 D. Trussoni Falling through Earth (2007) xvi. 307 Hundreds of plaques (embossed with prayers) stood next to black-and-white photographs. Incense and butter lamps burned below them.
butter-letter n. Obsolete a letter issued on ecclesiastical authority giving permission to eat butter in Lent.
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society > faith > church government > ecclesiastical authority > [noun] > ordinance of > dispensation > other
indulgence1673
misericord1802
butter-letter1873
1873 R. B. Drummond Erasmus II. xiii. 15 In Switzerland the Pope's pardons were commonly known as ‘butter-letters’, it being understood that their chief effect was to permit people to eat butter and eggs upon fast days.
1893 Westm. Gaz. 25 Feb. 5/3 In Italy, butter is prohibited [in Lent]... The Northerners, however,..would have none of this, and special ‘butter-letters’ were consequently dispatched to them from the obliging Vatican.
butterman n. (a) a man who makes or sells butter; (b) Nautical a topsail schooner whose topgallant yard is raised and lowered by halyards as required, rather than forming a fixed part of the vessel's rigging; cf. butter-rigged adj. (obsolete).Recorded earliest as a surname.
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the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > preparation of dairy produce > [noun] > churning butter > butter-maker
butterman1296
butter wife?1542
butter-woman1612
churner1888
butter maker2016
society > trade and finance > selling > seller > sellers of specific things > [noun] > seller of provisions > seller of butter
butterman1296
society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > vessel propelled by sail > [noun] > with specific rig > fore and aft rigged > schooner > schooner-rigged vessels
schooner-frigate1799
mackinaw boat1812
ballahoo1815
schooner barge1819
Jack1845
schooner-yacht1876
bugeye1877
jackass schooner1879
buckeye1885
butterman1885
schooner yawl1889
ram1904
Tancook schooner1933
goelette1948
1296–7 in L. M. Midgley Ministers' Accts. Earldom of Cornwall (1945) II. 187 Et de 2s. de domo que fuit Ricardi buttermon.
1301 in W. Brown Yorks. Lay Subsidy (1897) 51 Thoma Butterman.
1581 in J. D. Marwick Extracts Rec. Burgh Edinb. (1882) IV. 218 Gilbert Primrose, butterman.
1758 Centinel 28 Apr. 82 It is directed ‘to the reverend Mr. Hurden in Clare market, cheesemonger and butterman, London’.
1885 Daily Tel. 26 Nov. 8/4 ‘There,’ said I one day, pointing to a very smart schooner that was passing, ‘goes a pretty little vessel.’ ‘Aye,’ answered the 'longshoreman whom I had addressed, ‘a butterman.’
1925 I. Gershwin Ukulele Lorelei (song) in Compl. Lyrics (1993) 64/3 Beggar man and duke, Butter men from Dubuque, Ev'ryone surrenders when you play your uke.
2000 Guardian 6 June i. 17/1 Yesterday the Office for National Statistics (ONS) deleted coal pickers, buttermen..and several other manual jobs from its official list of occupations.
butter mark n. Obsolete a stamp of carved wood for marking butter pats.
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the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > preparation of dairy produce > [noun] > churning butter > butter-print
butter mark?c1475
butter print1616
butter stamp1820
butter mould1834
roller print1969
?c1475 Catholicon Anglicum (BL Add. 15562) f. 20v A Buttir marke.
1735 J. Atkins Voy. Guinea 66 The Impress of a Butter mark on Putty.
1857 Huddersfield Chron. & W. Yorks. Advertiser 7 Feb. Dairy utensils, viz., barrel churn, wood bowl, butter-mark, sieve..cans, &c.
butter market n. (a) an area or building in a marketplace designated for the sale of dairy goods and other home produce (now chiefly historical); (now usually) an area or building in a city or town formerly used for this purpose; (b) the economic sector concerned with commercial dealings in butter.
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1615 J. Stephens Satyrical Ess. 267 You must conceiue amisse of the shambles, or butter-market vpon her honesty.
1754 R. Denson New Travellers Compan. v. 131 The butter market has nothing remarkable but a square building where goods are weighed.
1849 Maine Farmer 4 Jan. We believe that, especially in our large cities, one of the most active causes of domestic infelicity lies in the fluctuant state of the butter market.
1917 Scotsman 5 Nov. 8/4 At the Carlisle butter market on Saturday there were tumultuous scenes caused by the shortage of butter supplies and an attempt by dealers to buy wholesale.
1992 Holiday Which? Sept. 189/2 The open-sided buttermarket with a fine beamed ceiling, is in the centre of the town.
2004 Livestock, Dairy, & Poultry Outlook (U.S. Dept. Agric.) 27 July 5/2 Butter markets are expected to remain unsettled.
butter mould n. a hollow container, often of a decorative design, in which butter is left to set so that it assumes the container's shape.
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the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > preparation of dairy produce > [noun] > churning butter > butter-print
butter mark?c1475
butter print1616
butter stamp1820
butter mould1834
roller print1969
1834 Metrop. Mag. Oct. 168 Churns of mahogany, and butter-moulds of satin-wood were seen in one place.
1932 L. I. Wilder Little House in Big Woods ii. 23 On the loose bottom of the wooden butter-mold was carved the picture of a strawberry with two strawberry leaves.
2001 C. H. Wendel Encycl. Antique Tools & Machinery 57/1 Likewise, such items as butter molds are often very expensive when made of wood.
butter-mouth n. (a) a Dutchman (obsolete); (b) a person who disarms and persuades others through the artful, ingratiating, or disingenuous use of language.In sense (a) with reference to the fact that the Dutch were regarded as prolific eaters of butter (cf. butterbox n. and butterbag n.).First used in quot. a1549 as the humorous first name of a fictitious casuist. [Compare earlier, probably independent, use as a personal name or nickname in Middle English, as Johannem Butermuth (1218), Rob. Buttermouth (1327).]
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the world > people > nations > native or inhabitant of Europe > native or inhabitant of the Low Countries > [adjective] > Dutch
butter-moutha1549
Dutchkin1576
Hollandish1611
vanden1639
butterbag1645
hogan1651
hogen mogen1653
butter bowzy1719
Batavian1795
Dutchy1862
a1549 A. Borde Fyrst Bk. Introd. Knowl. (1870) 147 I am a Flemyng, what for all that?.. ‘Buttermouth Flemyng’, men doth me call.
1617 F. Moryson Itinerary iii. i. iii.50 Because they [sc. the Netherlanders] feede much on butter, they are called butter mouthes.
1865 Latter-day Saints' Millennial Star 26 Apr. 533/2 The said book, nevertheless, is not to be understood literally, to mean what it says or say what it means, but it must be subjected to the spiritualizing and commentating process of modern priests, such as the Rev. Buttermouth Poundtext.
1896 Milwaukee (Wisconsin) Sentinel 1 Nov. He's too gol-dang polite, that feller is; I don't like such butter-mouth chaps.
2004 M. T. Anderson in M. McCafferty Sixteen 282 I held out my hand. I said, ‘Any friend of Pyrrho's is a friend of ours.’ Dipsus sprang back. ‘Don't you try that on Dipsus, butter-mouth!’
butter muslin n. a thin, loosely woven cloth with a fine mesh used for various purposes, esp. to wrap butter and to strain the whey from the curd during cheese-making; (also) a piece of such cloth.
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the world > textiles and clothing > textiles > textile fabric or an article of textile fabric > textile fabric > textile fabric made from specific material > cotton > [noun] > fine, light, or delicate > muslin > for wrapping butter
butter cloth1540
butter muslin1884
1884 Colman's Rural World 29 May 174/2 The top of tub of butter is smoothed, a clean piece of ‘butter-muslin’ is neatly laid on.
1906 C. W. Walker-Tisdale & T. R. Robinson Buttermaking 55 Place a damp butter-muslin over the roller and butter-board.
2003 E. Powell tr. S. Jamal Arabian Flavours 42 If the cucumber is large, you must put the slices in some butter muslin or a colander to get rid of the juice, squeezing them with your hands.
butter oil n. (a) oil obtained from butter; (in later use spec.) oil obtained by processing butter to remove water and milk solids; (b) a refined oil obtained from cotton seed, used to make margarine (now historical and rare).
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the world > food and drink > food > fat or oil > [noun] > vegetable oil or margarine
palm oil1625
vegetable oil1651
butter of mace1694
Negro-oil1753
sunflower oil1768
Galam butter1782
vegetable butter1790
vegetable fat1797
winter oil1811
butter substitute1834
red palm oil1836
butter oil1844
shea butter1847
palm butter1848
vegetable lard1859
palm-kernel oil1863
butterine1866
margarine1873
oleomargarine1873
bosch1879
oleo1884
oleo oil1884
vegetable shortening1892
Nucoline1894
almond butter1895
nut butter1896
Nutter1906
marge1919
Maggie Ann1931
sun oil1937
vanaspati1949
maggie1971
canola oil1982
1844 J. F. W. Johnston Lect. Applic. Chem. & Geol. to Agric. (new ed.) xx. 559 Butter oil. The liquid fat expressed from butter has the appearance of an oil, sometimes colourless, but often tinged of a yellow colour.
1881 Atlanta (Georgia) Constit. 9 Dec. (advt.) Cotton Butter Oil, Manufactured from Refined Cotton Seed Oils.
1902 Internat. Lib. Technol.: Cottonseed Oil & Products §41. 5 One great outlet for cottonseed oil is its use in the manufacture of oleomargarine, or, as it is commonly known, butterine. The quality of oil used for this purpose is that known as butter oil.
1911 Bull. Kansas State Board Health 7 121 It [sc. evaporated milk] should contain no added butter or butter oil incorporated either with whole milk or skimmed milk..at any stage of manufacture.
1922 National Provisioner 12 Aug. 35/1 (advt.) Cottonseed Oils..Union Choice Butter Oil, Supreme White Butter Oil.
1929 Cotton Oil Press Sept. 50 (advt.) Refiners of White butter oil—Yellow cooking oil—Salad oil.
1998 Bakers' Rev. Mar. 46/4 (advt.) Suppliers of butter, butteroil and fractionates, sweetened condensed milk and a full range of standard and specialised milk powders.
butter paper n. any of various types of semi-transparent waterproof paper used in cooking or to wrap food; (also) a piece of such paper.
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society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > material for making paper > paper > [noun] > wrapping-papers
cap-paper1577
packing paper1590
cap1620
German Lombard1712
wrapping-paper1715
butter paper1727
whitey-brown1761
kitchen paper?1782
emporetic1790
tea-paper1814
needle paper1852
small hand1853
grocer's paper1861
tobacco paper1877
grocery-paper1883
greaseproof paper1894
chip paper1935
toffee paper1958
1727 E. Smith Compl. Housewife 131 Butter Papers three double, one white, two brown.
1898 J. A. E. Roundell Pract. Cookery Bk. x. 386 All Sandwiches which have to be packed either for sportsmen or for travellers should be packed in butter paper.
2016 Times 24 Sept. (Weekend) 15 At home he would cook it [sc. venison] gently in a pan, then protect it with butter paper and place it in a 150C/gas 2 oven.
butter-quean n. derogatory Obsolete a woman who makes or sells butter, characterized as garrulous, argumentative, and bad-tempered.Cf. butter whore n. For a similar derogatory portrayal of female butter sellers, see quots. 1639 for butter wife n., and a1616 for butter-woman n.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > anger > irascibility > ill-naturedness > ill nature in woman or shrewishness > [noun] > shrew
scoldc1175
shrewc1386
viragoc1386
scolder1423
common scold1467
wild cat1570
vixen1575
callet1577
termagant1578
(Long) Meg of Westminster1589
butter whore1592
cotquean1593
scrattop1593
scoldsterc1600
butter-quean1613
Xantippea1616
fury1620
Tartar1669
fish-woman1698
cross-patch1699
Whitechapel fortune1734
brimstone1751
randy1762
fish-fag1786
rantipole1790
skellata1810
skimmington1813
targer1822
skellat-bell1827
catamaran1834
nagster1873
yenta1923
1613 T. Jackson Eternall Truth Script. i. ii. §3. viii. 162 This Synode vseth this Apology better beseeming a scolding butter queane then such as should be reuerend Fathers.
1650 H. More Observ. Anthroposophia Theomagica 44 You..bark and scold into the air (that is in general) more cursedly and bitterly then any butter-quean.
1693 T. Rymer Short View Trag. sig. H3v His words flow in abundance; no Butter-Quean can be more lavish.
1752 True Briton 11 Oct. 180 Each scolded, as bad, as a—Butter-Quean Woman.
butter-rigged adj. Nautical designating a topsail schooner whose topgallant yard is raised and lowered by halyards as required, rather than forming a fixed part of the vessel's rigging; cf. butterman n. [So called because this type of craft was commonly used by traders to carry butter from the Netherlands.]
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society > travel > travel by water > vessel, ship, or boat > vessel propelled by sail > [adjective] > rigged > in specific ways
lateen1540
high-riggeda1547
tall1548
well-rigged1577
under-sailed1599
over-rigged1627
schooner-rigged1769
sloop-rigged1769
ketch-rigged1775
spritsail1791
brig-rigged1796
square-rigged1802
ship-rigged1803
taunt-rigged1825
Bermudian-rigged1846
Bermudian1847
maphrodite1849
bark-rigged1858
butter-rigged1881
jackass rigged1883
1881 W. C. Russell Ocean Free-lance III. iv. 121 The little wooden cabin of a butter-rigged schooner.
1885 Daily Tel. 26 Nov. 8/4 A butter-rigged schooner's a vessel that sets her t'gall't sail flying. The yard comes down on the taw'sa'l yard, and the sails is furled together.
1948 B. Lubbock in C. E. Fayle et al. Trade Winds iv. 95 There are probably few people today who can say what was meant by a butter-rigged schooner. A butter-rigged schooner set her topgallant sail flying; the topgallant yard had no lifts, and when the sail had to be taken in the yard was lowered down on to the topsail yard, and the sail furled in with the topsail.
butter salt n. now historical fine common salt in small crystals obtained by rapid evaporation of brine, used in salting butter.
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the world > food and drink > food > additive > salt > [noun] > types of salt
salt-stonea1000
saltc1000
white saltOE
bay-salt1465
rock salt1562
salt upon salt1580
mineral salt1600
sea salt1601
French salt1617
verge-salt1656
table salt1670
pigeon salt1679
salt-cakec1702
tamarisk salt1712
cat-salt1724
butter salt1749
basket-salt1753
Sunday salt1756
rock1807
stoved salt1808
solar salt1861
fishery-salt1883
gros sel1917
1749 Wealth Great Brit. in Ocean 52 The Dutch prepare two kinds of refined salt, the one of a small grain, which they call butter salt, which is for domestic use.
1884 R. Holland Gloss. Words County of Chester (1886) Butter salt, salt-making term. A fine boiled salt, not stoved, used specially for making up butter.
2016 Archaeol. Ireland 30 iv. 24/3 Salt-producers in Cheshire in the early decades of the 1900s made..dairy or butter salt.
butter scale n. (in singular and plural) a device used for weighing butter; (also, in singular) the pan or surface on which butter is placed in scales consisting of two pans and a beam.
ΚΠ
1615 E. Sharpe Britaines Busse sig. Bv Wodden Butter-scales a paire.
?1801 Irish Agric. Mag. 1 No. 4. 357 The butter scales are then taken out of the salt water..and evenly balanced with butter.
1845 Christian Advocate & Jrnl. 17 Sept. 24/3 He then took a lump of the forfeited butter from the basket, and put it in a scale against a pound weight, and up flew the butter scale.
1849 Liverpool Mercury 26 Jan. 2/5 John Sinclair, provision dealer, 7, Wood-street, 1 dr. [=dram] copper under butter scale, £1.
2001 Financial Times 18 Aug. (Weekend FT section) p. iv/3 His uncle's farm shop used flat, fossilised remains of sea urchins as weights for the butter-scales.
butter scoop n. a wooden scoop used to extract butter from a churn or container.
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the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > preparation of dairy produce > [noun] > churning butter > tool for sampling or serving butter
butter scoop1781
butter trier1825
butter spade1851
1781 Catal. Houshold Goods H. Brownrigg (J. Braxton, Auctioneer) 82 A paste mould, and eight scollop shells. Three ditto with handles, a turnip, and butter scoop.
1872 O. W. Holmes Poet at Breakfast-table i. 2 As the market people run a butter-scoop through a firkin.
1995 A. McAllister in J. Dailey et al. Marry me, Cowboy! (1997) iv. 329 ‘And that,’ she said as the woman picked up a hand-size squared-off wooden scoop, ‘is a butter scoop.’
butter slide n. a surface which, as a practical joke, has been lubricated with butter (or occasionally other substances) so that it is too slippery to walk on; also figurative.
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the world > space > shape > flatness or levelness > smoothness > [noun] > slippery smoothness > slippery surface, part, or object
slide1688
butter slide1843
mudslide1856
slither1919
snow slide1927
1843 Punch 12 Aug. 72/1 Nor shall the clown in future make butter slides before the doors of respectable shopkeepers,..to throw down those customers by whom they get a livelihood.
1887 O. Wilde in Court & Society Rev. 2 Mar. 207/2 He met with a severe fall, through treading on a butter-slide, which the twins had constructed.
1927 W. E. Collinson Contemp. Eng. 20 Ice to make slides (if very slippery sometimes called a butterslide).
1953 N. Frye in Hudson Rev. 6 443 This determinism is then projected historically as the Great Western Butterslide,..which..has finally landed us all in that Pretty Pass in which we are today.
2003 Spectator (Nexis) 18 Oct. 54 Boisterous singing and often dangerous horseplay (‘butter slides’ et al.) brighten up dull days, of which there are many.
butter spade n. (a) a wooden spatula used to work butter; a small shovel used to remove butter from a churn or container; (b) a wooden paddle used (as one of a pair) to shape butter; a butter pat (butter pat n. 1).
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the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > preparation of dairy produce > [noun] > churning butter > tool for sampling or serving butter
butter scoop1781
butter trier1825
butter spade1851
1851 H. Stephens & J. P. Norton Farmer's Guide Sci. & Pract. Agric. II. 279/2 A butter spade of a shape long used in a dairy, the face being 4 inches square, and the handle 4 inches long.
1906 Chambers's Jrnl. Jan. 119/1 An old Dublin butter-spade with ivory handle.
2013 Helensburgh (Scotl.) Advertiser (Nexis) 8 May A 70-year-old pair of butter spades, a family heirloom that comes with the story of the lost art of making bespoke butter pats.
butter stamp n. an engraved wooden block used to imprint decorative motifs on butter; a butter print (butter print n. 1).
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the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > preparation of dairy produce > [noun] > churning butter > butter-print
butter mark?c1475
butter print1616
butter stamp1820
butter mould1834
roller print1969
1820 New-Eng. Galaxy & Masonic Mag. 4 Feb. 67/4 (advt.) Butter Stamps.
1926 Wisconsin Mag. Hist. 9 372 An iron kettle, butter stamp, snuff box, spectacles, and articles of clothing.
2011 P. Shelton Fruit of All Evil xvii. 174 At the end of the machine, on large worktables, were butter stamps that pressed designs into finished butter.
butter stick n. Obsolete a wooden implement used to work butter.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > preparation of dairy produce > [noun] > churning butter > butter-pat
butter pat1790
butter stick1830
Scotch hand1882
1830 Edinb. New Philos. Jrnl. 8 364 This milk is then beaten with a kind of butter stick, and poured into an earthen pot or other vessel.
1921 Ann. Rep. Amer. Hist. Assoc. 1918 342 It is then beaten and worked well with a butter stick or paddle several different times in the course of the day untill [sic] all the fluid is pressed out.
butter substitute n. any of various substances used as a spread or in cooking as an alternative to butter, esp. one simulating its properties.
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the world > food and drink > food > fat or oil > [noun] > vegetable oil or margarine
palm oil1625
vegetable oil1651
butter of mace1694
Negro-oil1753
sunflower oil1768
Galam butter1782
vegetable butter1790
vegetable fat1797
winter oil1811
butter substitute1834
red palm oil1836
butter oil1844
shea butter1847
palm butter1848
vegetable lard1859
palm-kernel oil1863
butterine1866
margarine1873
oleomargarine1873
bosch1879
oleo1884
oleo oil1884
vegetable shortening1892
Nucoline1894
almond butter1895
nut butter1896
Nutter1906
marge1919
Maggie Ann1931
sun oil1937
vanaspati1949
maggie1971
canola oil1982
1834 Berrow's Worcester Jrnl. 16 Oct. (advt.) Imperial Jambonade (or Butter Substitute).
1906 Macmillan's Mag. June 607 What are termed ‘butter-substitutes’,—in other words, fraudulent adulterants.
1955 B. C. L. Kemp Elem. Org. Chem. (new ed.) x. 150 For many years butter substitutes have been in use under the collective name of margarine.
2017 @KatherineHunt15 5 Feb. in twitter.com (O.E.D. Archive) Always had a spreadable butter substitute in our refrigerator until my husband showed me an article on how it's made.
butter tongs n. a pair of tongs used for picking up and transferring butter.
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the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > equipment for food preparation > [noun] > tongs
steak-tongs1845
butter tongs1866
1866 Amer. Artisan 15 Aug. 236/3 In combination with the plates or pads, D, of the butter tongs, as described, I claim the indentations or ridges, c, formed in or upon said plates, as and for the purposes set forth.
1913 Hotel Monthly Dec. 7/2 In the pantry of Greene's Hotel, Philadelphia, there is a big sign which reads: Keep fingers off butter. Use butter tongs.
2004 D. Cosper Wedding Season 15 Who cares, I argued, whether I eat my salad with the salad fork or the oyster fork or the butter tongs?
butter trier n. U.S. a metal implement consisting of a long tube or curved blade used for taking samples of butter in order to assess its freshness and consistency.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > preparation of dairy produce > [noun] > churning butter > tool for sampling or serving butter
butter scoop1781
butter trier1825
butter spade1851
1825 Providence (Rhode Island) Patriot 21 Dec. (advt.) Cheese and butter Tryers.
1923 National Poultry, Butter & Egg Bull. July 2/1 (advt.) Special Butter Trier for cold storage work, extra heavy, with brass handle.
2009 R. L. Bradley & M. Smukowski in S. Clark et al. Sensory Eval. Dairy Products (ed. 2) vi. 145 The judge should grasp the butter trier firmly in hand and insert the sampling device as near as possible to the center of the butter sample.
Butter Week n. a festival celebrated by Eastern Slavic countries and communities, esp. those belonging to the Orthodox Church, in the week preceding Great Lent.Meat is prohibited during Butter Week, and it is the last week that dairy products can be consumed prior to the Lent fast. [After Old Russian, Russian Maslenica (1543 or earlier; < maslenyj (adjective) of or relating to butter + -ica suffix forming nouns); compare also the considerably rarer Maslenaja nedelja, lit. ‘butter week’ (14th cent. or earlier).]
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > worship > liturgical year > fast > [noun] > period of > of a week > allowing butter
Butter Week1589
1589 A. Jenkinson in R. Hakluyt Princ. Navigations ii. 337 The weeke before Shroftide, they call the Butter weeke.
1762 P. Murdoch tr. A. F. Büsching New Syst. Geogr. I. 384 The Butter-week..when eating of flesh is forbidden and butter is allowed, is the week immediately preceding the great Fast of Lent.
1843 tr. J. G. Kohl Russia & Russians, 1842 II. xxv. 136 ‘Forgive me! it is the Butter-week!’ is the excuse invariably pleaded by every tipsy person.
2013 @ATasteOfUkraine 16 Mar. in twitter.com (O.E.D. Archive) Have you had a chance to stop by and celebrate Butter week with us today? We have fresh hot blini.
butter weight n. Obsolete the full measure of something and then some; literal a measure of butter in which the quantities used exceed customary units.Prior to the mid 19th cent. butter was often sold at a rate of 18 ounces to the pound (or above); cf. note at pound n.1 1a.
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the world > relative properties > measurement > measurement by weighing > [noun] > a system or standard of weighing > for specific substances
butter weight1733
the world > relative properties > quantity > sufficient quantity, amount, or degree > abundance > [noun] > plenty or more than one reckons on
lumping pennyworth?1706
butter weight1733
1733 J. Swift On Poetry 28 Yet, why should we be lac'd so straight; I'll give my [monarch] Butter-weight.
1829 Trans. Highland Soc. Scotl. 1 355 The largest size should not exceed 84 lb. gross, or 3 stones Aberdeen butter weight, that being the size used in Ireland, and most convenient and saleable in the London market.
1878 Notes & Queries 23 Nov. 410/1 Butter-weight means full legal weight and something more.
1906 Bedford (Indiana) Weekly Mail 11 May Be sure to give me butter weight, now, for I've been a long time customer of yours.
butter whore n. Obsolete a woman who makes or sells butter, characterized as garrulous, argumentative, and bad-tempered.Cf. butter-quean n. For a similar derogatory portrayal of female butter sellers, see quots. 1639 for butter wife n., and a1616 for butter-woman n.
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the mind > emotion > anger > irascibility > ill-naturedness > ill nature in woman or shrewishness > [noun] > shrew
scoldc1175
shrewc1386
viragoc1386
scolder1423
common scold1467
wild cat1570
vixen1575
callet1577
termagant1578
(Long) Meg of Westminster1589
butter whore1592
cotquean1593
scrattop1593
scoldsterc1600
butter-quean1613
Xantippea1616
fury1620
Tartar1669
fish-woman1698
cross-patch1699
Whitechapel fortune1734
brimstone1751
randy1762
fish-fag1786
rantipole1790
skellata1810
skimmington1813
targer1822
skellat-bell1827
catamaran1834
nagster1873
yenta1923
1592 T. Nashe Strange Newes sig. G3v Thou arrant butterwhore, thou cotqueane, & scrattop of scoldes.
1680 M. Stevenson Wits Paraphras'd 111 Foaming at mouth, think how I rore, And bait thee like a Butter-whore.
1776 J. Leacock Fall Brit. Tyranny iv. vii. 52 Scolding and quarrelling like a parcel of damn'd butter whores.
butter wife n. now historical a woman who makes or sells butter; cf. butter-woman n.
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the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > preparation of dairy produce > [noun] > churning butter > butter-maker
butterman1296
butter wife?1542
butter-woman1612
churner1888
butter maker2016
society > trade and finance > selling > seller > sellers of specific things > [noun] > seller of provisions > seller of butter > woman
butter wife?1542
butter-woman1612
?1542 H. Brinkelow Complaynt Roderyck Mors vi. sig. B8 Not so moch as the poore butter wife, but she is spoyled.
1639 J. Clarke Paroemiologia 275 To scould like butter-wives.
1891 J. M. Barrie Little Minister (1900) v. 38 The stones on which the butter wives sat have disappeared, and with them the clay walls and the outside stairs.
2014 W. T. Vollmann Last Stories 405 Butterwives who'd sold their fat sweet cows for next to nothing.
butter-woman n. now historical a woman who makes or sells butter; cf. butter wife n.
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the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > preparation of dairy produce > [noun] > churning butter > butter-maker
butterman1296
butter wife?1542
butter-woman1612
churner1888
butter maker2016
society > trade and finance > selling > seller > sellers of specific things > [noun] > seller of provisions > seller of butter > woman
butter wife?1542
butter-woman1612
1612 J. Webster White Divel sig. D3 Reapers and Butter-women, amongst Fishmongers And thousand other trades, which are annoyed By his excessiue heate.
a1616 W. Shakespeare All's Well that ends Well (1623) iv. i. 41 Tongue, I must put you into a Butter-womans mouth..if you prattle mee into these perilles. View more context for this quotation
1748 H. Walpole Let. 3 Sept. (1941) IX. 75 He there made her discover her family, a butter woman in Craven Street.
1883 Punch 24 Feb. 87 The five Royal Commissioners in their butterwoman's cloaks.
2007 P. Doherty Poison Maiden v. 125 Two butter-women involved in a shouting match over who should sell their goods where.
butter worker n. a hand-operated device for pressing the buttermilk out of butter, consisting of a roller or paddle attached to a tray fashioned to allow drainage.
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the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > preparation of dairy produce > [noun] > churning butter > tool for pressing butter
butter worker1839
1839 W. W. Townsend Dairyman's Man. 74 We have used his butter-worker and churn for some years.
1885 J. J. Manley in Brit. Almanac 18 The butter-milk and water are carefully pressed out in one of Bradford's butter workers.
2007 Portland (Maine) Press Herald (Nexis) 25 Sept. b1 ‘It squishes all the liquid out of it,’ Elijah explained as he turned the crank on an antique butter worker.
butter working n. the removal of moisture from butter; (also) the moulding of butter into pats or decorative forms.
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the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > preparation of dairy produce > [noun] > churning butter > butter-pat > process of making
butter working1843
1843 Ann. Rep. Commissioner Patents 1842 113 (table) in U.S. Congress. Serial Set (27th Congr., 3rd Sess.: House of Representatives Doc. 109) II Butter-working, machines for.
1906 Daily Chron. 25 Sept. 2/6 One is reluctantly obliged to conclude that butter-working is a lost art amongst grocers' assistants.
2016 V. B. Alvarez in R. C. Chandan et al. Dairy Processing & Quality Assurance (ed. 2) xix. 474/2 Observable patches or streaks of butter with a darker or lighter shade of yellow are the main characteristics of this defect. Insufficient butter working will cause this problem.
butter yellow n. now historical a yellow azo dye derived from dimethylaniline, used as a food additive.
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the world > matter > colour > named colours > yellow or yellowness > colouring matter > [noun] > dyes and dyestuffs
weldc1374
turmeric1545
yellow berry1652
fust1682
Avignon berry1728
eel-pout1736
yellowroot1755
quercitron1785
brass-colour1797
fustet1821
tesu1823
morin1833
datiscin1835
maize1838
picric acid1838
xanthin1838
moric acid1839
purree1844
nitrophenisic acid1845
rubiacin1848
flavin1853
orellin1857
fustic1858
maize colour1859
fusteric1860
Manchester yellow1862
chrysaniline1864
ilixanthin1865
flavaniline1882
sun-yellow1884
butter yellow1887
African turmeric1888
Indian turmeric1890
weld yellow1899
1887 Jrnl. Soc. Chem. Industry 31 Oct. 657 (table) Butter yellow. Aniline-azodimethyl-aniline.
1956 Nature 24 Mar. 576/2 Rat liver tumours induced by butter yellow.
2014 H. Stoff in T. Ortiz-Gómez & M. J. Santesmases Gendered Drugs & Med. (2016) i. 28 In the case of butter yellow, not only the..biochemical experts but also the women's organisations, reacted strongly against the azo dye.
C4. In the names of plants and animals.Cf. butterbur n., buttercup n. and adj., butterfish n., butterflower n., butterfly n., butterwort n., etc.
butter and eggs n. any of various plants having flowers in two shades of yellow; esp. yellow toadflax, Linaria vulgaris.
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the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Scrophulariaceae (figwort and allies) > [noun] > toadflax or cancer-wort
wild flaxa1400
cankerwortc1400
sulfc1450
linary1548
gall-wort1577
herb fluellin1578
toad-flax1578
cancerwort1597
flax-weed1597
linaria1597
butter and eggs1756
fluellin1756
1756 J. Hill Brit. Herbal 109/1 Linaria vulgaris. Our common people, from the mixture of a very pale and deep yellow, call it Butter and eggs.
1880 R. Jefferies Round about Great Estate 83 In shady woodlands the toadflax or butter-and-eggs is often pale,—a sulphur colour.
1930 Dept. Agric. & Immigration Virginia Bull. No. 274. 23/1 (advt.) Jonquils, butter and eggs, narcissus, tiger lilies 25c–12; $1.50–100.
2008 Independent 17 July (Extra section) 9 The gorgeous yellow and orange of this snap-dragon-like flower has earned it the nickname Butter and Eggs.
butter and tallow tree n.
Brit. /ˌbʌtər (ə)n(d) ˈtaləʊ triː/
,
U.S. /ˌbədər ən ˈtæloʊ ˌtri/
,
West African English /ˌbɔta an ˌtalo ˈtri/
now rare a large evergreen West African tree, Pentadesma butyracea (family Clusiaceae), with seeds yielding a solid fat used as a source of food; also called butter tree, tallow tree.
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the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > plant, nut, or bean yielding oil > [noun] > trees or shrubs yielding oil > African
tallow-tree1704
butter and tallow tree1795
1795 Acct. Colony Sierra Leone Sierra Leone Company 235 Butter and Tallow Tree. This is common in low lands about Freetown.
1896 Let. 4 Apr. in Bull. Misc. Information (Royal Gardens, Kew) (1897) No. 130. 312 I have the honour to forward by this mail steamer, a box containing seeds of Pentadesma butyracea, the butter and tallow tree of Sierra Leone.
1911 Bay View Mag. Nov. 142/1 The butter and tallow tree sometimes attains a height of seventy feet.
2006 J. F. DeMouthe Nat. Materials iv. 89 In western Africa, Pentadesma butyracea is called the tallow tree or the butter-and-tallow tree because the oil derived from its fruit is used like butter.
butter-back n. U.S. Obsolete the bufflehead duck, Bucephala albeola, which acquires a layer of fat in the autumn.Cf. butter-duck n., butterball n. 2a, butterbox n. 3.
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the world > animals > birds > freshwater birds > order Anseriformes (geese, etc.) > subfamily Merginae (duck) > [noun] > member of genus Anas (miscellaneous)
spirit1747
Baikal or Japanese teal1785
butter-back1791
parera1835
geelbek1867
1791 W. Bartram Trav. N. & S. Carolina ii. x. 295 A[nas] minor picta; the little black and white duck called butterback.
1796 J. Morse Amer. Universal Geogr. (new ed.) I. 213 Little black and white duck, called Butter Back (Anas minor picta).
1925 J. C. Phillips Nat. Hist. Ducks III. 334 Vernacular Names. English: Buffle-head, Butter-ball, Butter Duck, Butter-back, Butter-box, [etc.].
butter bird n. chiefly Caribbean (now rare) the bobolink, Dolichonyx oryzivorus, which was formerly used as food.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > birds > order Passeriformes (singing) > arboreal families > family Icteridae > [noun] > genus Dolichonyx (bobolink)
ortolan1666
ricebird1709
reed-bird1764
bobolink1774
rice bunting1781
butter bird1790
October bird1793
skunk blackbird1829
skunk bird1831
rice troupial1836
meadow-wink1884
1790 Short Journey in W. Indies II. 90 It is of the size of a large pigeon and as fat as a butter bird, but its flavour is peculiar.
1883 Standard 26 Dec. They [sc. bobolinks]..grow so fat that they receive the name of ‘butter birds’.
1956 M. Jeffrey-Smith Bird-watching in Jamaica 77 Not many would recognise the Bobolink of Canada..as our own Butter Bird or October Pink.
2014 W. Young Fascination of Birds vii. 19 Bobolinks used to be called butter birds by hunters who killed the fat birds for meat, especially in the Caribbean.
butterbush n. (a) U.S. the buttonbush, Cephalanthus occidentalis; (b) Australian any of several pittosporums native to Australia; spec. Pittosporum phillyraeoides, which has hard, pale timber, yellow flowers, and orange fruit with dark red seeds; cf. cheesewood n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular timber trees or shrubs > non-British timber trees > [noun] > Australasian
tallow-tree1704
rata1773
rosewood1779
red mahogany1798
ironbark1799
wild orange1802
red gum1803
rewarewa1817
red cedar1818
black-butted gum1820
Huon pine1820
miro1820
oak1821
horoeka1831
hinau1832
maire1832
totara1832
blackbutt1833
marri1833
raspberry jam tree1833
kohekohe1835
puriri1835
tawa1839
hickory1840
whau1840
pukatea1841
titoki1842
butterbush1843
iron gum1844
York gum1846
mangeao1848
myall1848
ironheart1859
lilly-pilly1860
belah1862
flindosa1862
jarrah1866
silky oak1866
teak of New South Wales1866
Tolosa-wood1866
turmeric-tree1866
walking-stick palm1869
tooart1870
queenwood1873
tarairi1873
boree1878
yate1880
axe-breaker1884
bangalay1884
coachwood1884
cudgerie1884
feather-wood1884
forest mahogany1884
maiden's blush1884
swamp mahogany1884
tallow-wood1884
teak of New Zealand1884
wandoo1884
heartwood1885
ivorywood1887
Jimmy Low1887
Burdekin plum1889
corkwood1889
pigeon-berry ash1889
red beech1889
silver beech1889
turnip-wood1891
black bean1895
red bean1895
pinkwood1898
poplar1898
rose mahogany1898
quandong1908
lancewood1910
New Zealand honeysuckle1910
Queensland walnut1919
mahogany gum1944
Australian mahogany1948
1843 J. Torrey Flora State N.Y. I. 313 (heading) Cephalanthus occidentalis, Linn. Butter-bush, or Pond-Dogwood.
1885 J. E. Brown Forest Flora S. Austral. v. 25 Pittosporum phillyræoides (De Candolle). The Poison-Berry Tree... In the far north,..it is called ‘Butter Bush’.
1936 I. L. Idriess Cattle King xxviii. 252 The rabbits had killed all the white wood, apple-bush and butter-bush.
1978 Phosphate Leasing Osceola National Forest Florida: Final Environmental Impact Statement (U.S. Dept. Interior) ii. 51/2 Under story—greenbriar, Virginia willow, sweet pepperbush, butter bush and large gallberry.
2011 Austral. Financial News (Nexis) 11 June 52 The butterbush—a native pittosporum—is extremely drought and frost tolerant but can become a pest in protected and tropical areas.
butter clam n. chiefly Canadian a large edible bivalve mollusc, Saxidomus gigantea (family Veneridae), occurring off the Pacific coasts of North America. [Apparently so called on account of its suitability for eating.]
ΚΠ
1899 Industr. Freedom (Edison, Washington) 1 Apr. 4/2 Oyster creek empties into the bay and the butter clam is found along the beach.
1957 M. Sharcott Troller's Holiday 79 They were fat butter clams, four or five inches across the shell, but there weren't enough of them.
2006 Canad. Geographic Sept. 52/1 You tell them, I want a butter clam, a horse clam, a littleneck, and they'll go get them.
butter-cutter n. Obsolete rare a small insect that attacks plant shoots. [An error for bud-cutter n. at bud n.1 Compounds 2.]
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the world > animals > invertebrates > phylum Arthropoda > class Insecta > [noun] > member of > unspecified
breezea1300
drumblec1350
gagrill14..
bug1594
bud-cutter1693
butter-cutter1704
cane-fly1750
whistle-insect1760
bush-worm1796
gogga1909
nunu1913
minibeast1973
1693 J. Evelyn tr. J. de La Quintinie Compl. Gard'ner ii. v. x. 100 To have the end of their new Shoots..cut off by a little black round Insect, call'd Bud-Cutter.]
1704 G. London & H. Wise J. de la Quintinie's Compl. Gard'ner (ed. 4) II. v. x. 162 The end of their new Shoots intirely cut off by a little black round Insect, called Butter-cutter.
butterdew n. Obsolete a dark greenish or yellowish-brown gelatinous substance found on damp ground, probably colonies of the cyanobacteria Nostoc (see nostoc n.).Nostoc swells up when exposed to moisture and therefore becomes more visible after wet weather. For this reason, it was formerly believed to be a type of rain or dew.Also called witches' butter.
ΘΚΠ
the world > the earth > weather and the atmosphere > weather > precipitation or atmospheric moisture > dew > [noun] > types of
night-dewa1398
May-dew?a1425
rosmarine1616
butterdew1724
mountain dew1782
1696 Philos. Trans. 1695–7 (Royal Soc.) 19 223 For a good part of last Winter and Spring, there fell in several places, a kind of thick Dew, which the Country People called Butter, from the Consistency and Colour of it.]
1724 W. Nicolson Irish Hist. Libr. 14 Bishop Ash's and Mr. Van's account of Butter-Dew, &c. 1695, 1696.
1841 Gardener's Chron. 23 Oct. 700/3 This Butterdew is probably of the same nature as that substance which in Scotland is called Witch's-butter.
butterdock n. any of several dock plants (genus Rumex), esp. R. obtusifolius, having large leaves which were formerly used to wrap butter; (also occasionally) the common butterbur, Petasites vulgaris.Cf. butter leaves n.
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the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Polygonaceae (dock and allies) > [noun] > dock and allies
red dockeOE
dockc1000
rhubarbc1390
docken1423
patience?a1425
round dock1526
Rumex1565
wild patience1578
bloody dock1597
monk's rhubarb1597
Welsh sorrel1640
butterdock1688
mountain rhapontic1728
mountain sorrel1753
Rheum1753
redshank1810
patience dock1816
fiddle-dock1823
canaigre1868
nettle-docken1891
1688 R. Holme Acad. Armory ii. vi. §xxv. 102/2 Butter Dock, or Rubarbe,..having a large crumpled leaf..with long stalks.
1807 T. Martyn Miller's Gardener's & Botanist's Dict. (rev. ed.) II. ii. at Rumex R[umex] acutus... The leaves were formerly much used for wrapping up butter; and that hence this species was commonly known by the name of Butter Dock.
1950 C. Porteous Derbyshire v. 53 By the stream a robust display of butter docks, their plump blossoms just freshly out and their leaves unworn.
2002 Daily Tel. 18 Jan. 10/5 Butterbur, also known as exwort, bog rhubarb and butterdock, grows in Europe, north Africa and south west Asia.
butter-duck n. U.S. a duck that acquires a layer of fat in the autumn; esp. the bufflehead, Bucephala albeola.Cf. butter-back n., butterball n. 2a, butterbox n. 3.
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the world > animals > birds > freshwater birds > order Anseriformes (geese, etc.) > subfamily Merginae (duck) > [noun] > genus Melanitta > melanitta perspicillata (surf-scoter)
surf duck1814
surf scoter1833
butter-duck1853
surf coot1885
1853 F. A. Pulszky & T. W. Pulszky White, Red, Black II. iv. 115 Dark butterducks, disturbed by the paddling of the steamer, flutter up in advance of the boat.
1857 J. G. Swan Northwest Coast 357 The Colonel saw a ‘butter-duck’ in a shallow creek... These ducks are the black surf-duck (Fuligula perspicillata).
1989 Peterson's Hunting Ann. 1990 63/2 Ringneck ducks, lesser scaup, redheads, and buffleheads (or butter ducks as some old-timers call them), probably frequent small ponds more than any other species of diving ducks.
2006 N. Vida Texicans (Electronic ed.) He watched the prairie dogs flick out of their burrows and the cranes and quail and butter-ducks flutter across the tree-shrouded stream.
butterflip n. now rare and chiefly historical the avocet, Recurvirostra avosetta. [The motivation for the name is unclear.]
ΚΠ
1802 G. Montagu Ornithol. Dict. at Avocet—Scooping Provincial [names]. Butter-flip. Scooper. Yelper. Picarini. Crooked-bill. Cobler's-awl.
1905 A. R. Forbes Gaelic Names Beasts ii. 234 Avocet... Avoset; Black and white avocet, butterflip; Clinker, cobbler's awl or awlduck.
1961 Entomologist 94 249 Among the names of birds, for instance, there is the ‘butterflip’ (Recurvirostra avocetta).
butter fruit n. [in sense (a) after Malay buah mentega ( < buah fruit + mentega butter)] (a) a tropical persimmon tree native to the Philippines and Sri Lanka, Diospyros discolor, which produces a reddish-brown fruit with velvety skin and pale flesh; (b) an avocado; = butter pear n. (b).
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > fruit and vegetables > fruit or a fruit > stone fruit > [noun] > avocado
alligator pear1696
avocado1697
aguacate1758
marrow1763
butter fruit1902
butter pear1947
1902 Agric. Bull. Straits & Federated Malay States 1 532 The Butter fruit, Mabola of the Philippines, Diospyros discolor... The flesh [of the fruit] is cream coloured, and when properly ripened is of the softness of butter, whence its name.
1902 Carpología Mexicana (Boletin de la Sociedad Agricola Mexicana) 3 Ahuacate chico.—Persea gratissima. Gaert var.—Vegetable butter fruit.—Fruit d'avocatier.
1927 Overland Monthly Oct. 305/3 The ‘butter-fruit’ salad which you so much enjoy today will, doubtless, be far inferior to the brand which will be consumed by your children in the years to come.
1987 Perennial Edible Fruits of Tropics (U.S. Dept. Agric. Handbk. No. 642) viii. 239 The mabolo (also known as velvet apple and butter fruit), Diospyros disolor Willd. (family Ebenaceae), is perhaps the best of the tropical persimmons.
2015 J. S. Denker Carrot Purple 30 It has been variously called alligator pear, avocado pear, butter fruit, and butter pear.
butterhead n. (more fully butterhead lettuce) any of several varieties of lettuce typically having a head of loosely bunched, tender leaves with a sweet, mild flavour; = butter lettuce n.The names butter, Boston, and bibb lettuce are often used interchangeably.
ΚΠ
1840 Mag. Hort. Dec. 468 Lettuce of yellow Butterhead, Palantine, and white Cos kinds.
1928 Cornell Extension Bull. No. 176. 48 (caption) Big Boston, the best variety of butterhead lettuce for New York.
1991 Shepherd's Garden Seeds Catal. 29/2 Butterheads are gaining precedence here. Their gently folded heads of butter-flavored undulating leaves are prized for delicate texture and flavor that melts in your mouth.
2007 Times 13 July (times2 section) 10/4 I usually follow with a floppy butterhead lettuce salad to wipe round the plate.
butterjags n. English regional Obsolete either of two leguminous plants with yellow flowers, bird's-foot trefoil, Lotus corniculatus, and yellow medick, Medicago falcata. [The second element is probably the plural of jag n.1, perhaps on account of the resemblance of the flowers to the garments described at jag n.1 1a.]
ΚΠ
1691 J. Ray N. Country Words in Coll. Eng. Words (ed. 2) 12 Butter-jags, the Flowers of the Trifolium siliqua cornuta.
1776 W. Withering Bot. Arrangem. Veg. Great Brit. II. 461 Yellow Medick. Butterjags.
1815 Encycl. Londinensis XIII. 682/2 Lotus corniculata... In Yorkshire it is said to be called cheesecake-grass, and in some other counties, butterjags, and crow-toes.
1903 Country Life 21 Mar. 375/2 The mere clumsiness of such titles as ‘Butter-jags’ for the lady's slipper [sc. bird's-foot trefoil]..carries a ring of genuineness.
butter leaves n. now historical and rare either of two herbaceous plants having (large) leaves which were formerly used to wrap butter: garden orache, Atriplex hortensis, and monk's rhubarb, Rumex alpinus; (also) the leaves themselves; cf. butterdock n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > according to family > Chenopodiaccae (goose-foot and allies) > [noun] > salt bush or orach
milesOE
orachea1300
golden herb1562
notchweed1659
sea pot-herb1706
lamb's quarter1773
butter leaves1789
fat-hen1795
mountain spinach1822
sea-orach1845
salt bush1863
1789 W. Marshall Rural Econ. Glocestershire I. 285 What the dairywomen call ‘butter leaves’; namely, the leaves of the Atriplex hortensis, or garden orach; which dairywomen in general sow in their gardens, annually, for this purpose [i.e. for packing butter in].
1878 W. Dickinson Gloss. Words & Phrases Cumberland (ed. 2) 13/2 Butter leaves, the leaves of the mountain dock, Rumex alpinus, used for packing pounds of butter in the market-basket.
1933 House & Garden Nov. 74/3 Orach is a tall, somewhat branched annual formerly grown as a green. Its other English names are Butter Leaves, and Mountain Spinach.
2016 E. Khosrova Butter i. v. 97 Provincially called butter leaves, the plant was sown annually in the garden just for the purpose of enveloping and protecting butter.
butter lettuce n. any of several varieties of lettuce typically having a head of loosely bunched, tender leaves with a sweet, mild flavour; = butterhead n.
ΚΠ
1828 N.-Y. Farmer & Hort. Repository Oct. 239/1 I sow about the 10th of September, seed of the White Dutch, Simpson's Selisias, and the Butter or Lazey Lettuce.
1966 Sunset Salad Bk. (ed. 3) 52/2 1 large head butter lettuce, broken in bite-sized pieces.
2011 Yuma (Arizona) Sun 8 May b2/ Butter lettuce is very fragile. Select unwilted leaves with no signs of damage or yellowing.
butter pear n. (a) any of several varieties of pear which have sweet, juicy flesh with a soft, buttery texture; = beurré n.1; (b) an avocado; = butter fruit n. (b). [In sense (a) after Middle French, French beurré , lit. ‘buttered’, in similar use (see beurré n.1).]
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > fruit and vegetables > fruit or a fruit > pear > [noun] > other types of pear
calewey1377
choke-pear1530
muscadel1555
lording1573
bon-chrétienc1575
Burgundian pear1578
king pear1585
amiot1600
bergamot1600
butter pear1600
dew-pear1600
greening1600
bottle pear1601
gourd-pear1601
critling1611
pearc1612
nutmeg1629
rosewater pear1629
amber pear1638
Christian1651
chesil1664
diego1664
frith-pear1664
primate1664
saffron pear1664
Windsor pear1664
nonsuch1674
muscat1675
burnt-cat1676
ambrette1686
sanguinole1693
satin1693
St. Germain pear1693
amadot1706
burree1719
Doyenne1731
beurré1736
colmar1736
chaumontel1755
Marie Louise1817
seckel1817
vergaloo1828
Passe Colmar1837
glou-morceau1859
London sugar1860
Kieffer pear1880
sand pear1880
sandy pear1884
nashi1892
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > particular food plant or plant product > particular types of fruit > [noun] > pear > other types of
calewey1377
honey peara1400
pome-pear1440
pome-wardena1513
choke-pear1530
muscadel1555
worry pear1562
lording1573
bon-chrétienc1575
Burgundian pear1578
king pear1585
pound pear1585
poppering1597
wood of Jerusalem1597
muscadine1598
amiot1600
bergamot1600
butter pear1600
dew-pear1600
greening1600
mollart1600
roset1600
wax pear1600
bottle pear1601
gourd-pear1601
Venerian pear1601
musk pear1611
rose pear1611
pusill1615
Christian1629
nutmeg1629
rolling pear1629
surreine1629
sweater1629
amber pear1638
Venus-pear1648
horse-pear1657
Martin1658
russet1658
rousselet1660
diego1664
frith-pear1664
maudlin1664
Messire Jean1664
primate1664
sovereign1664
spindle-pear1664
stopple-pear1664
sugar-pear1664
virgin1664
Windsor pear1664
violet-pear1666
nonsuch1674
muscat1675
burnt-cat1676
squash pear1676
rose1678
Longueville1681
maiden-heart1685
ambrette1686
vermilion1691
admiral1693
sanguinole1693
satin1693
St. Germain pear1693
pounder pear1697
vine-pear1704
amadot1706
marchioness1706
marquise1706
Margaret1707
short-neck1707
musk1708
burree1719
marquis1728
union pear1728
Doyenne pear1731
Magdalene1731
beurré1736
colmar1736
Monsieur Jean1736
muscadella1736
swan's egg1736
chaumontel1755
St Michael's pear1796
Williams1807
Marie Louise1817
seckel1817
Bartlett1828
vergaloo1828
Passe Colmar1837
glou-morceau1859
London sugar1860
snow-pear1860
Comice1866
Kieffer pear1880
sand pear1880
sandy pear1884
snowy pear1884
the world > food and drink > food > fruit and vegetables > fruit or a fruit > stone fruit > [noun] > avocado
alligator pear1696
avocado1697
aguacate1758
marrow1763
butter fruit1902
butter pear1947
1600 R. Surflet tr. C. Estienne & J. Liébault Maison Rustique iii. xlix. 537 Garden, tender and delicate peares, such as..butter peare [Fr. beurree].
1719 G. London & H. Wise J. de la Quintinie's Compl. Gard'ner (ed. 7) 52 The Burree..It's call'd the Butter Pear, because of its smooth, delicious, melting soft Pulp.
1861 North Amer. & U.S. Gaz. (Philadelphia) 18 Sept. Mrs. George Liggett..exhibited a dish of butter pears..—a fruit of surpassing beauty as well as flavor.
1886 Jrnl. Amer. Geogr. Soc. N.Y. 18 222 The gardens were..enclosed in high walls, above which rose the rich dark foliage of the ‘butter-pear’ and evergreen trees.
1947 C. M. Wilson Liberia iii. 31 The Liberian ‘butter pear’..makes all other avocados seem insipid.
1997 Los Angeles Mag. May 78/1 A couple of French butter pears with prosciutto de Parma and goat cheese before bed.
2010 Salt Lake Tribune (Nexis) 17 July Also known as ‘butter pears’, avocados are actually large berries belonging to the same plant family as cinnamon and camphor.
butter-root n. Obsolete the common butterwort, Pinguicula vulgaris.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > plants and herbs > aquatic, marsh, and sea-shore plants > [noun] > butterwort
butter-root1597
butterwort1597
Pinguicula1597
Yorkshire sanicle1597
bog violet1713
steep-grass1777
yearning grass1814
steep-wort1886
1597 J. Gerard Herball ii. 645 In Yorkshire..it is called Butterwoorts, Butter roote, and white roote.
1791 E. Baylis New & Compl. Body Pract. Bot. Physic xxvii. 386 Usually Sanicula eboracensis, or Yorkshire Sanicle... It is termed in English Butter-wort, and Butter-root, because of the unctuosity of the leaves.
1901 J. Weathers Pract. Guide Garden Plants ii. 729/2 P. vulgaris (Bog Violet; Butter-root). A pretty British and Irish species, with bluntly oblong fleshy leaves.
butter tree n. any of various tropical or subtropical trees having seeds from which a soft, oily fat is obtained; esp. shea, Vitellaria paradoxa; cf. butter and tallow tree n.shea butter tree: see the first element.
ΘΚΠ
the world > plants > particular plants > cultivated or valued plants > plant, nut, or bean yielding oil > [noun] > trees or shrubs yielding oil > tropical > butter-trees or bassia
butter tree1798
shea-butter tree1799
phulwara1805
iluppai1832
Bassiac1865
1798 St. James's Chron. 16–19 Jan. There is another tree, which he [sc. Mr. Park] calls the butter-tree, because the kernels of its nuts afford a substance exactly resembling butter.
1808 W. Roxburgh in Jrnl. Nat. Philos., Chem., & Arts 19 Suppl. 372 (heading) A botanical and economical account of Bassia butyracea, or the East India Butter Tree.
1912 Sci. Amer. 24 Feb. 175/1 To the plants yielding such oils has been applied the name of ‘butter-trees’.
2016 Australian (Nexis) 23 July (Travel section) 9 Products are made using natural-origin, organic-certified shea butter extracted from the kernels of butter trees (Butyrospermum parkii).
butterweed n. any of various herbaceous plants of the family Asteraceae, esp. of the genera Erigeron and Senecio, which are native to the Americas and have yellow flowers; also with distinguishing word.
ΚΠ
1800 W. Dalrymple Treat. Culture Wheat 41 If Wheat, on Strong land, be sown too early, Black Bents and Butterweed will make their growth.
1911 Jrnl. Royal Soc. Arts 60 65/2 Erigeron Canadensis, called by the Canadians by the names of ‘Fleabane’, the name in England of E[rigeron] acre; and ‘Butter-weed’.
1986 Washinton Post (Nexis) 17 Oct. n4 The grasses begin to flatten into a dense mat patterned with yellow clumps of butterweed.
2004 C. Gurche Washington's Best Wildflower Hikes 79 Dwarf mountain butterweed, also a yellow composite, flourishes in the rocky rubble.
C5.
a. With of in the names of various substances resembling butter in appearance or consistency.
butter of almonds n. now historical a creamy dessert made with sweetened ground almonds; = almond butter n. 1.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > confections or sweetmeats > [noun] > nut confections
pinionade1329
butter of almonds?c1425
almond butter1502
almond comfit1569
sugar-almond1594
musk almond1675
praline1714
almond snow1723
almond1783
nougat1827
almond rock1841
burnt almond1850
pistachio candy1853
nougatine1868
noyau1899
gianduja1902
Montélimar1908
turron1918
?c1425 Recipe in Coll. Ordinances Royal Househ. (Arun. 334) (1790) 447 Botyr of Almondes. Take almonde mylke, and let hit boyle, and in the boylinge cast therto a lytel wyn or vynegur.
1754 New & Compl. Dict. Arts & Sci. I. 102/1 Butter of almonds, made by adding blanched almonds to a preparation of cream and the whites of eggs boiled together.
1861 Our Eng. Home 151 Almonds..were boiled until the liquor became a delicious cream, from which was made the famous butter of almonds.
1956 E. Cavanna & J. Welton Gourmet Cookery for Low-fat Diet 28 One hundred fifty-one almonds were boiled to a cream from which emerged the famous butter of almonds.
butter of cacao n. now chiefly historical the pale yellow fat extracted from the seeds of cacao or related trees; also called cacao butter, cocoa butter.
ΚΠ
1746 tr. J. Astruc Gen. Treat. Dis. Children 229 An ulcer in the lungs, with some balsams, or butter of cacao.
1887 Boston Post 15 Sept. 12/7 (advt.) Baker's breakfast cocoa..is made from selected cocoa, with the excess of butter of cacao removed.
1998 Pharmacy in Hist. 40 142/1 A formula by Griffith and Maisch listed..a demulcent butter of cacao mixture for catarrh.
butter of mace n. now rare a fixed oil obtained from nutmegs, occurring as a soft, pale yellow solid; also called nutmeg butter, oil of mace.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > fat or oil > [noun] > vegetable oil or margarine
palm oil1625
vegetable oil1651
butter of mace1694
Negro-oil1753
sunflower oil1768
Galam butter1782
vegetable butter1790
vegetable fat1797
winter oil1811
butter substitute1834
red palm oil1836
butter oil1844
shea butter1847
palm butter1848
vegetable lard1859
palm-kernel oil1863
butterine1866
margarine1873
oleomargarine1873
bosch1879
oleo1884
oleo oil1884
vegetable shortening1892
Nucoline1894
almond butter1895
nut butter1896
Nutter1906
marge1919
Maggie Ann1931
sun oil1937
vanaspati1949
maggie1971
canola oil1982
1694 W. Salmon Pharmacopœia Bateana ii. iii. 884/1 Add Balsam of Amber ℥j. Butter of Mace ℥ß. Petrolæum, Oil of Spike, A. Ʒij. mix them.
1870 Proc. 17th Ann. Meeting Amer. Pharmaceut. Assoc. 143 Butter of mace becomes suddenly solid at 33°C.
1965 Econ. Bot. 19 197/1 The fixed oil of nutmegs is known by many names..: nutmeg butter, balsam of nutmegs, oil of mace, butter of mace, banda soap, and Oleum Myristicae Expressum.
butter of wax n. Obsolete an oil obtained from wax by distillation, occurring as a butter-like solid; also called wax butter.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > materials > derived or manufactured material > extracted or refined oil > [noun] > oil from wax
butter of wax1662
cerin1850
wax-oil1852
mahua oil1854
mahua butter1889
1662 H. Stubbe Indian Nectar 176 After it was cold, it became thick, like to the Oyl or Butter of Wax for consistence.
1735 T. Dallowe tr. H. Boerhaave Elements Chem. II. iii. xxxvi. 108 Butter of wax..excellently secures the Skin from being dried and chapp'd in the Winter.
1824 J. C. Loudon Encycl. Gardening (ed. 2) i. ii. 152 Sometimes it [sc. vegetable wax] has the consistency of butter, and is denominated butter of wax, as butter of coco, butter of galam.
b. Chiefly Chemistry. With of and following word. Denoting a chloride of the metal or substance specified, as butter of antimony, butter of arsenic, butter of bismuth, butter of tin, butter of zinc, etc. Now chiefly historical.Used to describe anhydrous chlorides that are soft or oily in texture, with the metal typically in its lowest oxidation state (as antimony( iii) chloride, zinc( ii) chloride, etc.).
ΚΠ
1651 J. French Art Distillation iii. 71 Oil or Butter of Antimony.
1674 M. Lister Let. 7 Jan. in H. Oldenburg Corr. (1975) X. 427 I take it to be yt wch van Helmont calls ye Gur or Bur ye butter of Minerals; 'tis in tast sweetish, only it has a vitriolick & iron like twang wth it.
1708 tr. J. P. de Tournefort Materia Medica iv. i. 180 If you pour fair Water upon the Butter of Antimony, you will obtain a very fine white Powder..call'd the Powder of Algaroth.
1785 T. Beddoes tr. T. Bergman Diss. Elective Attractions xx. 124 That which is collected in the receiver, consists of butter of arsenic, and marine acid unmixed.
1802 R. Chenevix in Philos. Trans. (Royal Soc.) 92 164 The muriatic salts, formerly known by the strange name of butters of the metals.
1812 H. Davy Elements Chem. Philos. 407 The only known compound, bismuth and chlorine..called butter of bismuth.
1922 T. M. Lowry Inorg. Chem. xliv. 872 Crude zinc chlorine which distils solidifies in the receiver to a soft waxy mass known as butter of zinc.
1940 G. H. J. Adlam & L. S. Price Higher School Certificate Inorg. Chem. (ed. 2) xxxviii. 331 On adding water, a semi-solid mass is obtained, which contains one or more hydrates of the chloride, e.g. SnCl4.5H2O. This is known as ‘butter of tin’.
1994 Times (Nexis) 24 Nov. In the past, antimony was prescribed as tartar emetic (antimony potassium tartrate) or in veterinary work as butter of antimony.
2002 W. R. Newman & L. M. Principe Alchemy tried in Fire iii. 104 Corrosive sublimate and antimony (mercuric chloride and antimony trisulphide) were heated together, first providing a distillate of butter of antimony (antimony trichloride).

Derivatives

ˈbutter-like adj.
ΘΚΠ
the world > matter > constitution of matter > oiliness or greasiness > [adjective] > buttery
butteryc1450
butterish1542
butter-like1600
butyraceous1669
butyrous1682
1600 R. Surflet tr. C. Estienne & J. Liébault Maison Rustique iii. lxxxiv. 625 You shall take this butter like matter and put it into the retort hauing first made it very cleane.
1700 W. Salmon Pharmacopœia Bateana (ed. 2) i. ix. 380/2 A Butter-like Oil.
1869 A. R. Wallace Malay Archipel. I. v. 85 A rich butter-like custard highly flavored with almonds.
1961 M. Waldo Cook as Romans Do i. 28 Bel Paese is the classic ‘mild’ cheese... It has a creamy yellow butterlike consistency.
2006 B. Greene Best Life Diet (2007) 105 If you must have some kind of butter-like spread on your toast, look for one of the margarine spreads with labels stating ‘0 g trans fat’.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).

buttern.2

Forms: Middle English botour, late Middle English buttir, 1500s–1600s butter.
Origin: A borrowing from French. Etymons: French boutoir, bouteur.
Etymology: < Middle French boutoir (1361), bouteur (1444) < bouter to push, to hit, to project (see butt v.1) + -oir (see -ory suffix1). Earlier currency of the French word is implied by post-classical Latin butor, butorium (from 13th cent. in British sources).Quots. 1370 and 1423 show use of a vernacular word in Latin documents; it is possible that they show an (otherwise unrecorded) Anglo-Norman counterpart rather than the Middle English word. Compare butteris n., which apparently shows an alteration of this word.
Obsolete.
A tool used for trimming the hooves of a horse, esp. prior to shoeing; = butteris n.
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > farming > animal husbandry > keeping or management of horses > shoeing of horses > [noun] > shoeing instruments
butter1370
firing iron1374
butteris1559
pritchel1568
fuller1587
drawing knife1610
draw knife1711
rennet1725
searcher1834
sate1883
buffer1902
1370 in J. Raine Inventories & Acct. Rolls Benedictine Houses Jarrow & Monk-Wearmouth (1854) 53 (MED) In domo fabri, j par de belies..j botour fractum.
1423 in J. Raine Testamenta Eboracensia (1865) III. 81 (MED) Stabulum..pro j botour, ij malleis parvis, cum j clencher de ferro.
?c1475 Catholicon Anglicum (BL Add. 15562) f. 20v A Buttir, fabri, scalprum, scalpus, scaber, scabrum.
1566 T. Blundeville Order curing Horses Dis. cxlviii. f. 102 in Fower Offices Horsemanshippe First, pull of the shooe, and then open the place grieued with a butter, or drawer.
1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 400 The humor lies in the foot, for the which you must search with your butter, paring all the soles of the fore-feete.
1639 T. de Grey Compl. Horsem. ii. xvi. 290 Pluck off the shooe, and either with your drawing iron, or your Butter, search the place to the very bottome.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2018; most recently modified version published online December 2020).

buttern.3

Origin: A borrowing from Dutch. Etymon: Dutch botter.
Etymology: < Middle Dutch botter (a1468) < botten to cheat at dice (of uncertain origin) + -er -er suffix1.
Obsolete. rare.
A person who cheats at dice.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > games of chance > [noun] > player of games of chance > cheat or swindler
butter1474
rooka1568
steal-counter1588
nicker1669
sharper1681
tat-monger1688
gambler1735
blackleg1767
gouger1790
sharp1797
tatsman1825
leggism1843
spieler1859
sniggler1887
1474 W. Caxton tr. Game & Playe of Chesse (1883) iii. viii. 147 Players at dyse, Rybauldes and butters.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2018; most recently modified version published online June 2019).

buttern.4

Brit. /ˈbʌtə/, U.S. /ˈbədər/
Origin: Formed within English, by derivation. Etymons: butt v.1, -er suffix1.
Etymology: < butt v.1 + -er suffix1.
An animal that butts with its head or horns. Also figurative.
ΘΚΠ
the world > animals > by habits or actions > [noun] > that butts
puttera1382
burterc1440
butter1611
duncher1824
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues Cousseur, a butter or iurrer.
1883 Fifeshire Jrnl. 10 May 3/6 The goat is a hard butter.
1921 Black Fox Mag. July 18/3 Doesn't this put you in mind of some individuals—cronic [sic] butters, or kickers. They are always butting away at old ideas, and they keep right at it.
1966 ‘J. Hackston’ Father clears Out 183 I got a certain amount of amusement and pleasure out of my life with cows—apart from calves, of course. These butters never let up, and I generally wore..a plum-coloured bruise.
1992 A. Symons Tremedda Days ii. 54 There were the odd butters and kickers, and a cow would become very fierce when protecting her new-born calf.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2018; most recently modified version published online December 2021).

buttern.5

Origin: Formed within English, by derivation. Etymons: butt v.4, -er suffix1.
Etymology: < butt v.4 + -er suffix1.
North American. Obsolete.
A person who or machine which cuts off the rough ends of logs or boards. Cf. butt v.4 1a.
ΘΚΠ
society > occupation and work > equipment > cutting tool > saw > [noun] > power saws > other power saws
belt saw1819
chainsaw1846
butter1850
bandsaw1864
resaw1876
sabre saw1953
pendulum saw1958
1850 S. Judd Richard Edney & Governor's Family vii. 98 He teazed a butter with it, making as if he would thrust it under his axe.
1874 E. H. Knight Amer. Mech. Dict. I. 414/1 In the large saw-mills of the lumber-regions double butters are used.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2018; most recently modified version published online December 2021).

butterv.

Brit. /ˈbʌtə/, U.S. /ˈbədər/
Forms: see butter v.
Origin: Formed within English, by conversion. Etymon: butter n.1
Etymology: < butter n.1 Compare earlier buttered adj.
1.
a. transitive. To smear or spread with butter. Also: to cook or serve with butter (cf. earlier buttered adj. 1).
ΘΚΠ
the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > cooking > cook [verb (transitive)] > cook with specific ingredient
buttera1475
cream1906
the world > food and drink > food > food manufacture and preparation > preparation for table or cooking > garnishing > garnish [verb (transitive)] > spread with butter or margarine
buttera1475
bebutter1611
margarine1960
a1475 J. Russell Bk. Nurture (Harl. 4011) in Babees Bk. (2002) i. 155 Saltfysche, stokfische, merlynge, makerelle, buttur ye may with swete buttur of Claynos.
1528 W. Tyndale Obed. Christen Man f. cvijv They thinke that yf the bysshope butter the chyld in the foreheed that it is saffe.
1589 Darrell Accts. in H. Hall Society in Elizabethan Age (1886) App. ii. 213 For..buttering ij cold chickens, vd.
1602 W. Shakespeare Merry Wives of Windsor iii. v. 7 And I be serued such another tricke, Ile giue them leaue to take out my braines and butter them.
1608 W. Shakespeare King Lear vii. 287 Twas her brother, that in pure kindnes to his horse buttered his hay. View more context for this quotation
1698 J. Floyer Treat. Asthma 148 I frequently Butter the Toast and dip it in Small Beer.
1747 H. Glasse Art of Cookery ii. 16 Butter the Paper and also the Gridiron.
1834 J. Porter Carême's Royal Parisian Pastrycook iii. 99 Butter the moulds lightly.
1874 J. C. Buckmaster Cookery v. 80 Butter the onions, put them into a stew-pan with white stock, and let them simmer over a slow fire.
1883 W. Jago in Knowledge 24 Aug. 120/2 Ship-biscuits..soaked in hot coffee and then buttered.
1941 B. Miller Farewell Leicester Square xv. 268 Alec sat with a serviette over his knees, chair pulled up to the table, buttering his third round of toast.
1964 Boys' Life Nov. 29/2 He cut up three tomatoes, buttered the bread and got out the coffee.
1978 G. Duff Vegetarian Cookbk. 270 To butter boiled brown rice, put 1½ oz (40 g) butter into a large saucepan [etc.].
2008 Ebony Dec. 178/3 Butter two cookie sheets and keep warm.
b. transitive. To fill (something) up with butter as a waterproof sealant. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > closed or shut condition > close or shut [verb (transitive)] > close an aperture or orifice > in other specific ways
wax1377
gypsec1420
lute1495
wall1503
to brick up1606
butter1808
to brick off1836
to board up1885
1808 ‘P. Plymley’ Two More Lett. on Catholics vii. 23 An Irish peasant fills the barrel of his gun full of tow dipped in oil, butters up the lock, buries it in a bog.
2. transitive. slang. Of a gambler: to increase (one's stake) after every throw or game. Also with the person betted against as object. Obsolete.
ΘΚΠ
society > leisure > entertainment > pastimes > game > games of chance > play games of chance [verb (intransitive)] > stake > type of stake
to play high1640
butter1671
set up one's rest1680
to play low1735
paroli1835
to go one's pile1836
to go nap1894
parlay1895
double up1940
1671 J. Dryden Evening's Love iv. 54 My Don he sets me ten pistols; I nick him: ten more, I sweep them too. Now in all reason he is nettled, and sets me twenty: I win them too. Now he kindles, and butters me with forty. They are all my own.
1699 B. E. New Dict. Canting Crew Butter, to double or treble the Bet or Wager to recover all Losses.
1755 S. Johnson Dict. Eng. Lang. Butter, to encrease the stakes every throw, or every game: a cant term among gamesters.
1821 ‘P. Atall’ Hermit in Philadelphia ii. 29 Every time I buttered a bet, it was a Flemish account.
3. figurative.
a. transitive. To flatter or praise (a person), esp. as a means of gaining favour or advantage. Now usually with up.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > esteem > approval or sanction > commendation or praise > flattery or flattering > flatter [verb (transitive)]
flatter?c1225
flackera1250
slickc1250
blandishc1305
blandc1315
glozec1330
beflatter1340
curryc1394
elkena1400
glaverc1400
anointa1425
glotherc1480
losenge1480
painta1513
to hold in halsc1560
soothe1580
smooth1584
smooth1591
soothe1601
pepper1654
palp1657
smoothify1694
butter1700
asperse1702
palaver1713
blarney1834
sawder1834
soft-soap1835
to cock up1838
soft-solder1838
soother1842
behoney1845
soap1853
beslaver1861
beslobber1868
smarm1902
sugar1923
sweetmouth1948
smooth-talk1950
1700 W. Congreve Way of World Prol. sig. a2 The 'Squire that's butter'd still, is sure to be undone.
1798 F. C. Patrick More Ghosts! II. xxiv. 40 We must butter him up with kind looks and civil speeches until he signs the deed.
1816 W. Scott Antiquary III. viii. 180 Butter him with some warlike terms—praise his dress and address.
1832 E. Bulwer-Lytton Eugene Aram II. ii. viii. 42 Your honour should see how they fawns and flatters, and butters up a man.
1884 Sat. Rev. 5 July 27/1 The Lord Chief Justice of England made a tour through America and generously buttered the natives.
1924 E. M. Forster Passage to India ix. 106 ‘This is a great relief to us, it is very good of you to call, Doctor Sahib,’ said Hamidullah, buttering him up a bit.
1943 H. Pearson Conan Doyle iii. 42 The little country practitioner who had been buttering them up for a quarter of a century found that he might as well put up his shutters.
1975 H. Acton Nancy Mitford xi. 163 Among the compatriots were several fans, including journalists who needed taming or even ‘buttering’ for as Lesley Blanch remarked, she had a keen sense of publicity.
2015 Radio Times 27 June (South/West ed.) 102/4 A housekeeper spreads sunshine through a geriatric ward, buttering up the busy doctors and dancing with patients.
b. transitive. To defraud through glib words. Obsolete. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > conformity with what is known, truth > deceit, deception, trickery > deception by illusion, delusion > speech intended to deceive > beguile, cajole [verb (transitive)]
bicharrea1100
fodea1375
begoc1380
inveiglea1513
to hold in halsc1560
to get within ——1572
cajole1645
to cajole with1665
butter1725
veigle1745
flummer1764
to get round ——1780
to come round ——1784
to get around ——1803
flatter-blind1818
salve1825
to come about1829
round1854
canoodle1864
moody1934
fanny1938
cosy1939
mamaguy1939
snow1943
snow-job1962
1725 New Canting Dict. To butter, signifies also, to cheat or defraud in a smooth or plausible Manner.
4. transitive. Building. To smear or coat (a brick, tile, etc.) with mortar, adhesive, etc.
ΘΚΠ
the world > space > relative position > condition of being external > covering > coating or covering with a layer > coat or cover with a layer [verb (transitive)] > smear or spread with a substance
smear971
dechea1000
cleamc1000
besmearc1050
clamc1380
glue1382
pargeta1398
overslame?1440
plaster?1440
beslab1481
strike1525
bestrike1527
streak1540
bedaub1558
spread1574
daub1598
paste1609
beplaster1611
circumlite1657
oblite1657
fata1661
gaum?1825
treacle1839
butter1882
slap1902
slather1941
nap1961
1882 W. J. Christy Pract. Treat. Joints 21 Bricks..are..buttered instead of being laid on a bed of mortar properly spread.
1912 Building Progress Feb. 53/2 Masons simply ‘butter’ the edges of a brick with mortar and then push it down on the wall.
1944 R. V. Boughton in R. Greenhalgh Pract. Builder iii. 143/1 The tiles are slurried or buttered on the back with the fix, a brush being used for this purpose.
1995 Pract. Householder Mar. 9/3 She used a tile cutter to get a clean cut and then checked it fitted snugly before buttering the back with adhesive.

Phrases

P1. to butter the cony: to take advantage of an unmissable opportunity. Obsolete. rare.
ΚΠ
1611 R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues at Ambezatz Ayant faict Ambezatz, having buttered the connie; hauing had that chance that no wise man would nicke.
P2.
a. to know (also understand, etc.) (on) which side one's bread is buttered: to know where one's advantage lies.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > mental capacity > knowledge > knowledge, what is known > familiarity > be or become familiar with [phrase] > know what is beneficial
to know (also understand, etc.) (on) which side one's bread is buttered1546
1546 J. Heywood Dialogue Prouerbes Eng. Tongue ii. vii. sig. Kv I knowe on whiche syde my breade is buttred.
1757 Crab Tree 31 May Perhaps they would know their own happiness, or (as a blunt member of the ground floor said) on which side their bread was buttered.
1863 C. Kingsley Water-babies vii. 289 He..understood so well which side his bread was buttered, and which way the cat jumped.
1987 C. Reid Joyriders ii. i, in Plays: One (1997) 144 You don't know what side yer bread's buttered on. You got a free holiday, an' all ye ever done was complain about it.
2018 i (Nexis) 6 Mar. 41 Politicians know which side their bread is buttered.
b. to butter a person's bread on both sides and variants: to provide for a person, esp. to a lavish or excessive degree. Hence to have one's bread buttered on both sides: to enjoy a prosperous, fortunate, or extravagant lifestyle; to be profligate or wasteful.
ΘΚΠ
the world > action or operation > prosperity > in prosperous condition [phrase] > in easy circumstances
to have one's bread buttered on both sides1678
in good bread1743
on velvet1749
a1625 J. Fletcher Women Pleas'd iv. iii, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Ffffff/2 Lop. Go pay the Boyes well: see them satisfied. Pen. Come Mounsieur Devills, come my Black-berries Ile butter ye o' both sides.
1678 J. Ray Coll. Eng. Prov. (ed. 2) 232 His bread is buttered on both sides. i. e. He hath a plentifull estate: he is fat and full.
1834 Tait's Edinb. Mag. Oct. 642/2 Gi'e the Whigs places and pensions,—And butter both sides of their bread With jobations of all dimensions.
1837 J. G. Lockhart Mem. Life Scott (1839) I. 206 (note) Wherever Walter goes he is pretty sure to find his bread buttered on both sides.
1881 C. E. L. Riddell Senior Partner I. 47 In some shape or form she was always trying to get her toast buttered on both sides; but Mr. McCullagh would not permit her one single luxury of which he disapproved.
1907 J. F. Carter Destroyers x. 152 They know not the imprudence of buttering bread on both sides when butter is plenty.
1958 Financial Times 25 Apr. 2/6 The workers want a new wage scheme with bread buttered on both sides with jam round the edges.
2017 Argus Weekend (S. Afr.) (Nexis) 3 Sept. (Sport section) 26 They expected to waltz into easy money.., but it hasn't proved to be the case. It turns out that not everyone can have their bread buttered on both sides.
c. to butter one's bread on both sides and variants: to simultaneously ally oneself with opposing factions, people, or causes; to behave in a duplicitous and self-interested manner.
ΚΠ
1768 R. R. Orig. Camera Obscura 5 Those Peers and Commoners well known by the Name of Trimmers, who will have their Bread buttered on both Sides.
1834 S. Smith Sel. Lett. Major Jack Downing lxii. 163 ‘When he lets his slice fall, or some one nocks it out of his hand, it always somehow falls butter side up.’ ‘Well,’ says I, ‘Gineral, don't you know why?.. He butters both sides at once.’
1882 Ipswich Jrnl. 23 Dec. (Suppl.) 13/2 I presume you are a gentleman who wishes to butter his bread on both sides... You wish to run with the hare and hunt with the hounds.
1924 N.Y. Times 13 Jan. x2/1 The actor's art that makes us mingle hatred and sympathy for..an idealist buttering both sides of his own bread.
1981 J. L. Lasky & P. Silver Offer xiii. 278 The British butter their bread on both sides. But they intend to double-cross everyone.
2017 Cairns (Austral.) Post (Nexis) 17 Apr. 16 The politician was buttering both sides of his bread, wanting to appear tough to the commercial fishing industry without offending traditional hunters and losing their vote.
d. to have one's bread buttered for life: to be well provided for.
ΚΠ
1845 Gentleman's Mag. Jan. 8 An attorney told him ‘his bread was buttered for life’; for he had received the commendations both of Lord Thurlow and of Dunning.
1885 D. C. Murray First Person Sing. (1886) xx. 152 He told himself that in any case his bread was buttered for life.
1903 M. Betham-Edwards Barham Brocklebank, M.D xiii. 110 Of course, a son of mine has only to step into my own shoes and his bread is buttered for life.
1994 Daily Mail (Nexis) 2 July 22 They were pleased with me. I think they could see that Sarah's toast would be buttered for life.
2016 @KingShaka79 8 Feb. in twitter.com (O.E.D. Archive) Maybe [he] is protecting those who ensured that his bread is buttered for life.
P3. Proverb. fine (also fair) words butter no parsnips and variants: flattery or empty words are no substitute for practical actions.
ΚΠ
a1625 J. Fletcher Womans Prize i. iii, in F. Beaumont & J. Fletcher Comedies & Trag. (1647) sig. Nnnnn2/1 I shall rise again, if there be truth In Egges, and butter'd Pasnips.]
1638 J. Clarke Phraseologia Puerilis sig. A6 Spe non saginatur venter. Faire words butter no parsnips.
1645 R. Overton Sacred Decretall 5 Fair words butter no fish.
1680 R. L'Estrange tr. Erasmus 20 Select Colloquies ix. 131 Your Charity upon Earth will be rewarded in Heaven... Those words, Butter no Parsnips.
1726 J. Stevens New Dict. Span. & Eng. at Dinero Money does all things, but fair words butter no cabbage.
1797 G. Colman Heir at Law iii. ii. 44 Business is business; and words you know butter no parsnips.
1821 Old Wives' Tales 27 ‘He was always good-natured to me.’ ‘Ah! my dear, “fair words butter no turnips”.’
1867 A. Trollope Last Chron. Barset I. xlii. 363 I often tell 'em how wrong folks are to say that soft words butter no parsnips, and hard words break no bones.
1870 J. R. Lowell Among my Bks. (1873) 1st Ser. 358 Fine words, says our homely old proverb, butter no parsnips.
1930 London Mercury Aug. 380 Our forefathers rejected ‘smarmy’ overtures with ‘Fair words butter no parsnips.’
1946 P. Larkin Let. 15 May in Sel. Lett. (1992) 118 All this is theorising, stony talk that butters no parsnips.
1971 S. Jepson Let. to Dead Girl xv. 177 I told him calling me names wasn't buttering his parsnips.
1997 Mirror (Nexis) 30 Apr. 2 Mr Major..baffled an audience by adding: ‘A soundbite never buttered a parsnip.’
2015 Observer (Nexis) 15 Apr. Fine words butter no parsnips. Without explicit commitment to secure and sustainable funding the community can hardly be reassured.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2018; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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