Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition

Butter

But′ter

(bŭt′tẽr)
,
Noun.
[OE.
botere
,
butter
, AS.
butere
, fr. L.
butyrum
, Gr.
βούτυρον
; either fr.
βούσ
ox, cow +
τυρόσ
cheese; or, perhaps, of Scythian origin. Cf.
Cow
.]
1.
An oily, unctuous substance obtained from cream or milk by churning.
2.
Any substance resembling butter in degree of consistence, or other qualities, especially, in old chemistry, the chlorides, as butter of antimony, sesquichloride of antimony; also, certain concrete fat oils remaining nearly solid at ordinary temperatures, as butter of cacao, vegetable butter, shea butter.
Butter boat
,
a small vessel for holding melted butter at table.
–
Butter flower
,
the buttercup, a yellow flower.
–
Butter print
,
a piece of carved wood used to mark pats of butter; – called also
butter stamp
.
Locke.
–
Butter tooth
,
either of the two middle incisors of the upper jaw.
–
Butter tree
(Bot.)
,
a tree of the genus
Bassia
, the seeds of which yield a substance closely resembling butter. The butter tree of India is the
Bassia butyracea
; that of Africa is the Shea tree (
Bassia Parkii
). See
Shea tree
.
–
Butter trier
,
a tool used in sampling butter.
–
Butter wife
,
a woman who makes or sells butter; – called also
butter woman
.
[Obs. or Archaic]

But′ter

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Buttered
([GREEK]);
p. pr. & vb. n.
Buttering
.]
1.
To cover or spread with butter.
I know what’s what. I know on which side
My bread is
buttered
.
Ford.
2.
To increase, as stakes, at every throw or every game.
[Cant]
Johnson.

Butt′er

,
Noun.
One who, or that which, butts.

Webster 1828 Edition

Butter

BUT'TER

,
Noun.
[L. butyrum.] An oily substance obtained from cream or milk by churning. Agitation separates the fat or oily part of milk from the thin or serous part, called butter-milk.
Butter, in the old chimistry, was applied to various preparations; as,
Butter of antimony, now called the sublimated muriate of antimony, and made by distilling a mixture of corrosive sublimate and the regulus.
Butter of arsenic, sublimated muriate of arsenic, made by a like process.
Butter of bismuth, sublimated muriate of bismuth.
Butter of tin, sublimated muriate of tin.
Butter of zink, sublimated muriate of zink.
Butter of cacao, is an oily concrete white matter obtained from the cacao nut, made by bruising the nut and boiling it in water.
Butter of wax, the oleaginous part of wax, obtained by distillation, and of a butyraceous consistence.

BUT'TER

,
Verb.
T.
To smear with butter.
1.
To increase the stakes at every throw or every game; a cant term among gamesters.

Definition 2024

Butter

Butter

See also: butter

German

Noun

Butter f ‎(genitive Butter, no plural)

  1. butter

Usage notes

Butter is feminine in standard German, but masculine in some dialects including Swabian. (Compare Gottcheerish púttər, which has all three genders.)

Declension

Derived terms

butter

butter

See also: Butter

English

A stick of butter (food made of cream) with a butter knife.

Noun

butter ‎(usually uncountable, plural butters)

  1. (uncountable) A soft, fatty foodstuff made by churning the cream of milk (generally cow's milk).
  2. (countable, obsolete, chemistry) Any specific soft substance.
    butter of antimony
  3. (uncountable) Any of various foodstuffs made from other foods or oils, similar in consistency to, eaten like or intended as a substitute for butter (preceded by the name of the food used to make it).
    peanut butter
Derived terms
Related terms
Translations

Verb

butter ‎(third-person singular simple present butters, present participle buttering, simple past and past participle buttered)

  1. (transitive) To spread butter on.
    Butter the toast.
  2. to move one's weight backwards or forwards onto the tips or tails of one's skis or snowboard so only the tip or tail is in contact with the snow.
  3. (slang, obsolete, transitive) To increase (stakes) at every throw of dice, or every game.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Johnson to this entry?)
Derived terms
Translations
See also

Etymology 2

butt +‎ -er

Noun

butter ‎(plural butters)

  1. Someone who butts, or who butts in.
    • 2005, David E. Fastovsky, David B. Weishampel, The Evolution and Extinction of the Dinosaurs (page 156)
      […] these animals lacked self-correcting mechanisms of the kind seen in modern head-butters such as goats and big-horn sheep that would have kept the tremendous forces aligned with the rest of the skeleton.

French

Etymology

From butte.

Verb

butter

  1. to heap
    butter les pommes de terre.‎
    (please add an English translation of this usage example)

Conjugation

Swedish

Adjective

butter (comparative buttrare, superlative buttrast)

  1. grumpy

Declension

Inflection of butter
Indefinite/attributive Positive Comparative Superlative2
Common singular butter buttrare buttrast
Neuter singular buttert buttrare buttrast
Plural buttra buttrare buttrast
Definite Positive Comparative Superlative
Masculine singular1 buttre buttrare buttraste
All buttra buttrare buttraste
1) Only used, optionally, to refer to things whose natural gender is masculine.
2) The indefinite superlative forms are only used in an attributive role.

Etymology

From Old High German butera, borrowed from Medieval Latin butyrum.

Pronunciation

  • IPA(key): /ˈbʊtɐ/

Similar Results