- a soft yellow food made from cream, used in cooking and for spreading on bread
- Fry the onions in butter.
- a pat/knob/tablespoon of butter
- (North American English) a stick (= small pack) of butter
- Melt the butter in a small pan, add the flour and stir well.
- Do you want butter or margarine on your toast?
Extra ExamplesTopics Fooda1- Cream the butter and icing sugar together until light and fluffy.
- He put a large knob of butter on the potatoes.
- She spread butter on the roll.
- Put some butter on the crackers, please.
- Rub the butter into the flour.
- The butter melted in the heat.
- This butter doesn't spread very well.
- You can make frosting out of half a stick of butter and two cups of powdered sugar.
- courgettes sautéed in butter
Oxford Collocations Dictionaryadjective- fresh
- creamy
- rancid
- …
- knob
- pat
- slab
- …
- put on
- spread (something with)
- heat
- …
- spread
- melt
- sauce
- dish
- knife
- …
- in butter
- bread and butter
Word OriginOld English butere, of West Germanic origin; related to Dutch boter and German Butter, based on Latin butyrum, from Greek bouturon.
Idioms
See butter in the Oxford Advanced American DictionarySee butter in the Oxford Learner's Dictionary of Academic Englishbutter wouldn’t melt (in somebody’s mouth)
- (informal) used to say that somebody seems to be innocent, kind, etc. when they are not really
like a knife through butter
- (informal) easily; without meeting any difficulty
Check pronunciation:
butter