%butte%

‖n. [ F. See Butt a bound. ] A detached low mountain, or high rising abruptly from the general level of the surrounding plain; -- applied to peculiar elevations in the Rocky Mountain region. [ 1913 Webster ]

The creek . . . passes by two remarkable buttes of red conglomerate. Ruxton. [ 1913 Webster ]

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 ]

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 ]

n. One who, or that which, butts. [ 1913 Webster ]

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 ]

n. (Zool.) 1. The buffel duck. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. a fat person or animal. [ informal ] [ PJC ]

3. a lump of butter rounded into a ball. [ PJC ]

4. [ Trademark ] a plump chicken or turkey prepared for cooking. [ PJC ]

n. (Zool.) The rice bunting or bobolink; -- so called in the island of Jamaica. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ OE. buttur the bittern + 5th bump. ] (Zool.) The European bittern. Johnson. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) A broad-leaved plant (Petasites vulgaris) of the Composite family, said to have been used in England for wrapping up pats of butter. [ 1913 Webster ]

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 ]

n. the fatty substance of milk from which butter is made. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

a. Apt to let things fall, or to let them slip away; not skillful in using the hands; slippery; careless.
Syn. -- bumbling, bungling, ham-fisted, ham-handed, handless, heavy-handed, left-handed. [ 1913 Webster + WordNet 1.5 ]

n. someone who drops things (especially one who cannot catch a ball); a person who is butter-fingered. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. (Zool.) A name given to several different fishes, in allusion to their slippery coating of mucus, as the Stromateus triacanthus of the Atlantic coast, the Epinephelus punctatus of the southern coast, the rock eel, and the kelpfish of New Zealand. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. any of various plants of the genus Ranunculus.
Syn. -- buttercup, crowfoot, goldcup, kingcup. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n.; pl. Butterflies [ Perh. from the color of a yellow species. AS. buter-flēge, buttor-fleóge; cf. G. butterfliege, D. botervlieg. See Butter, and Fly. ] (Zool.) A general name for the numerous species of diurnal Lepidoptera. [ See Illust. under Aphrodite. ] [ 1913 Webster ]

Asclepias butterfly. See under Asclepias. --
Butterfly fish (Zool.), the ocellated blenny (Blennius ocellaris) of Europe. See Blenny. The term is also applied to the flying gurnard. --
Butterfly shell (Zool.), a shell of the genus Voluta. --
Butterfly valve (Mech.), a kind of double clack valve, consisting of two semicircular clappers or wings hinged to a cross rib in the pump bucket. When open it somewhat resembles a butterfly in shape. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. tropical gurnardlike fish with huge fanlike pectoral fins for underwater gliding; unrelated to searobins.
Syn. -- flying gurnard, flying robin. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. A substance prepared from animal fat with some other ingredients intermixed, as an imitation of butter. [ 1913 Webster ]

The manufacturers ship large quantities of oleomargarine to England, Holland, and other countries, to be manufactured into butter, which is sold as butterine or suine. Johnson's Cyc. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. [ The same word as buttress, noun, in a different application, F. bouter to push. ] (Far.) A steel cutting instrument, with a long bent shank set in a handle which rests against the shoulder of the operator. It is operated by a thrust movement, and used in paring the hoofs of horses. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Buttermen A man who makes or sells butter. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. The milk that remains after the butter is separated from the cream. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. 1. (Bot.) An American tree (Juglans cinerea) of the Walnut family, and its edible fruit; -- so called from the oil contained in the latter. Sometimes called oil nut and white walnut. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. (Bot.) The nut of the Caryocar butyrosum and Caryocar nuciferum, of S. America; -- called also Souari nut. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. tall annual herb or subshrub of tropical Asia having velvety leaves and yellow flowers and yielding a strong fiber; naturalized in SE Europe and US.
Syn. -- velvetleaf, velvetweed, Indian mallow, China jute, Abutilon theophrasti. [ WordNet 1.5 ]

n. A kind of candy, mainly composed of sugar and butter. [ Colloq. ] Dickens. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) An annual composite plant of the Mississippi valley (Senecio lobatus). [ 1913 Webster ]

n. Over weight. Swift. [ 1913 Webster ]

☞ Formerly it was a custom to give 18 ounces of butter for a pound. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Bot.) A genus of low herbs (Pinguicula) having simple leaves which secrete from their glandular upper surface a viscid fluid, to which insects adhere, after which the margin infolds and the insects are digested by the plant. The species are found mostly in the North Temperate zone. [ 1913 Webster ]

a. Having the qualities, consistence, or appearance, of butter. [ 1913 Webster ]

n.; pl. Butteries [ OE. botery, botry; cf. LL. botaria wine vessel; also OE. botelerie, fr. F. bouteillerie, fr. boutellie bottle. Not derived from butter. See Bottle a hollow vessel, Butt a cask. ] 1. An apartment in a house where butter, milk and other provisions are kept. [ 1913 Webster ]

All that need a cool and fresh temper, as cellars, pantries, and butteries, to the north. Sir H. Wotton. [ 1913 Webster ]

2. A room in some English colleges where liquors, fruit, and refreshments are kept for sale to the students. [ 1913 Webster ]

And the major Oxford kept the buttery bar. E. Hall. [ 1913 Webster ]

3. A cellar in which butts of wine are kept. Weale. [ 1913 Webster ]

Buttery hatch, a half door between the buttery or kitchen and the hall, in old mansions, over which provisions were passed. Wright. [ 1913 Webster ]

(Zoöl.), a white butterfly (Pieris rapæ of both Europe and America, and the allied Pieris oleracea, a native American species) which, in the larval state, devours the leaves of the cabbage and the turnip. See also Cabbage worm, below. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. A soldier armed with a hagbut or arquebus. [ Written also hackbutter. ] Froude. [ 1913 Webster ]

n. (Zool.) A very large red and black butterfly (Danais Plexippus) having striking orange-brown wings with black veins in a reticulated pattern; -- called also milkweed butterfly and monarch. Its larvae feed on the leaves of the milkweed. [ 1913 Webster +PJC ]

. A paste made by mixing ground fresh roasted peanuts with a small quantity of water or oil, and used chiefly as a relish on sandwiches, etc. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. [ Cf. Plasma. ] A flourlike food preparation made from skim milk, and consisting essentially of the unaltered proteid of milk. It is also used in making biscuits and crackers, for mixing with cocoa, etc. A mixture of this with butter, water, and salt is called and resembles clotted cream in appearance. [ Webster 1913 Suppl. ]

n. (Law) The answer of a defendant in matter of fact to a plaintiff's surrejoinder. [ 1913 Webster ]

(Zool.) A pteropod. [ 1913 Webster ]