| Butter | n. [ OE. botere, butter, AS. butere, fr. L. butyrum, Gr. boy`turon; either fr. boy`s ox, cow + turo`s cheese; or, perhaps, of Scythian origin. Cf. Cow. ] 1. An oily, unctuous substance obtained from cream or milk by churning. [ 1913 Webster ] 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. [ 1913 Webster ]
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 ] [ 1913 Webster ]
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| Butter | v. t. [ imp. & p. p. Buttered (&unr_;); p. pr. & vb. n. Buttering. ] 1. To cover or spread with butter. [ 1913 Webster ] I know what's what. I know on which side
My bread is buttered. Ford. [ 1913 Webster ] 2. To increase, as stakes, at every throw or every game. [ Cant ] Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ] |
| butter-and-eggs | n.(Bot.), a name given to several perennial plants having showy flowers of two shades of yellow, or of yellow and orange, such as Narcissus incomparabilis in Europe, and the toadflax (Linaria vulgaris) in the United States; the latter is a naturalized weed in North America.
Syn. -- toadflax, wild snapdragon, devil's flax, Linaria vulgaris. [ 1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5 ] Variants: Butter and eggs |
| Buttercup | n. (Bot.) A plant of the genus Ranunculus, or crowfoot, particularly Ranunculus bulbosus, with bright yellow flowers; -- called also butterflower, golden cup, and kingcup. It is the cuckoobud of Shakespeare. [ 1913 Webster ] |
