Толковый словарь английского языка Oxford English Reference - butter

n. & v. --n. 1 a a pale yellow edible fatty substance made by churning cream and used as a spread or in cooking. b a substance of a similar consistency or appearance (peanut butter). 2 excessive flattery. --v.tr. spread, cook, or serve with butter (butter the bread; buttered carrots). Phrases and idioms butter-and-eggs any of several plants having two shades of yellow in the flower, e.g. toadflax. butter-bean 1 the flat, dried, white lima bean. 2 a yellow-podded bean. butter-cream (or -icing) a mixture of butter, icing sugar, etc. used as a filling or a topping for a cake. butter-fingers colloq. a clumsy person prone to drop things. butter-knife a blunt knife used for cutting butter at table. butter muslin a thin, loosely-woven cloth with a fine mesh, orig. for wrapping butter. butter-nut 1 a N. American tree, Juglans cinerea. 2 the oily nut of this tree. butter up colloq. flatter excessively. look as if butter wouldn't melt in one's mouth seem demure or innocent, probably deceptively. Etymology: OE butere f. L butyrum f. Gk bouturon