butter

Meanings

1. 1
   verb

   to spread butter on

   They buttered some biscuits for the guests.

2. 2
   noun

   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

3. 3
   noun

   Any of various substances made from other (especially plant-based) oils or fats, used in moisturizers, cosmetics, etc.

   Butters such as cocoa, illippe, kokum, mango, murumuru, sal (shorea) and shea occur naturally and are obtained directly from the plant.

4. 4
   noun

   Any specific soft substance.

   butter of antimony; butter of arsenic

5. 5
   noun

   Something that is smooth, impressive, or appealing. (Compare smooth as butter.)

   That “Confessions” into “Nice and Slow” transition [at the Super Bowl LVIII halftime show] was buttah !

6. 6
   verb

   To spread butter on.

   Butter the toast.

7. 7
   noun

   Someone or something that butts.

   […] 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.

8. 8
   noun

   an edible emulsion of fat globules made by churning milk or cream

Etymology

PIE word *gʷṓws Etymology tree Proto-Indo-European *gʷṓws Proto-Hellenic *gʷous Ancient Greek βοῦς (boûs) Proto-Indo-European *tewh₂-der. Proto-Hellenic *tūrós Ancient Greek τυρός (turós) Ancient Greek βούτῡρον (boútūron)bor. Latin būtȳrumbor. Proto-West Germanic *buterā Old English butere Middle English buter English butter From Middle English buter, butter, from Old English butere, from Proto-West Germanic *buterā, from Latin būtȳrum, from Ancient Greek βούτῡρον (boútūron, “cow cheese”), compound of βοῦς (boûs, “ox, cow”) and τῡρός (tūrós, “cheese”).