Butcher About, verb (Wellington College).—To make a great noise; to
humbug about.
Butcher’s Mourning, subs. (common).—A white hat with a black mourning
hat-band.
Butteker, subs. (old).—A shop.
Butter, subs. (popular).—Fulsome flattery; unctuous praise; ‘soft
soap.’ A French equivalent is le cirage. Cf., verb, sense 1. Also
buttering-up.
1819. Moore, Tom Crib’s Memorial to Congress, p. 40.
For, knowing how, on Moulsey’s plain,
The champion fibb’d the Poet’s nob,
This buttering-up against the grain,
We thought was curs’d genteel in Bob.
1823. Blackwood’s Magazine, XIV., p. 309. You have been daubed over
by the dirty butter of his applause.
1857. A. Trollope, Three Clerks, ch. i. The quantity of butter
which he poured over Mr. Hardline’s head and shoulders with the
view of alleviating the misery which such a communication would be
sure to inflict, was very great.
1880. World, 13 Oct. A lavish interchange of compliments, the
butter being laid on pretty thick.
Verb (common).—1. To flatter fulsomely; to indulge in rhodomantic
praise. French cirer.
1700. Congreve, Way of World, prol. (1866), 259. The squire that’s
buttered still is sure to be undone. [M.]
1725. New Canting Dictionary. To butter signifies also to cheat or
defraud in a smooth and plausible manner.
1816. Scott, Antiquary, ch. xxxviii. ‘Keep him employed, man, for
half-an-hour or so—butter him with some warlike terms—praise his
dress and address.’
1839. Lever, Harry Lorrequer, ch. xii. ‘He first butthers them up
and then slithers them down!’
1857. C. Kingsley, Two Years Ago. I’ll butter him, trust me.
Nothing comforts a poor beggar like a bit of praise when he is
down.
1884. Saturday Review, 5 July, p. 27, col. 1. The Lord Chief
Justice of England made a tour through America, and generously
buttered the natives.
2. (old.)—Jamieson says, ‘to increase the stakes every throw or every
game.’
1690. B. E., Dictionary of Canting Crew. Butter, to double or
treble the bet or wager to recover all losses.
1785. Grose, Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue. Butter a bet, to
double or triple it.
To look as if butter would not melt in one’s mouth, phr. (old).—A
contemptuous saying of a person of somewhat simple demeanour. Murray
traces back this familiar phrase to 1530, but a reference to it appears
in French literature at a much earlier date.
1475. Les Evangiles des Quenouilles—Vme Journée. Edition
Elzevirienne. Paris (1855), p. 72. A cette parolle mist dame
Mehault ses mains à ses costez et en grant couroux luy respondy
que, etc., et que, Dieu merci, aincoires fondoit le burre en sa
bouche, combien qu’elle ne peust croquier noisettes, car elle
n’avoit que un seul dent.
1530. Palgrave, 620, 1. He maketh as thoughe butter wolde not melte
in his mouth. [M.]
1562. Latimer, Serm. Lord’s Prayer, V., ii., 79. These fellows ...
can speak so finely, that a man would think butter should scant
melt in their mouths.
1687. Sedley, Bellamira. Sil. He look’d so demurely, I thought
butter wou’d not have melted in his mouth, I hope you will make
sure work with him before you send him again.
1738. Swift, Polite Conversation, i. She looks as if butter would
not melt in her mouth, but I warrant cheese won’t choak her.
1825. Scott, St. Ronan’s Well, ch. xxviii. (III., p. 26). I am
beginning to think ye are but a queer ane, ye look as if butter
wadna melt in your mouth, but I sall warrant cheese no choak ye.
1850. Thackeray, Pendennis, I., p. 149. Telling her landlady how
... the Mayor was ... a nice, soft-spoken old gentleman; that
butter wouldn’t melt in his mouth, etc.
Will cut butter when it’s hot, phr. (common).—Said of a knife when
blunt. An obvious allusion.
Butter and eggs, subs. (common).—Explained by quotations.
1862. Macmillan’s Mag., Jan., p. 238. And I can do butter-and-eggs
all down the slide.... The feat of butter-and-eggs consists in
going down the slide on one foot and beating with the heel and toe
of the other at short intervals.
Compare the foregoing with the following.
1836. Dickens, Pickwick Papers, II., p. 9. Sam Weller, in
particular, was displaying that beautiful feat of fancy sliding
which is currently denominated ‘knocking at the cobblers’ door,’
and which is achieved by skimming over the ice on one foot, and
occasionally giving a two-penny postman’s knock upon it, with the
other.
Butter-Bag or Butter-Box, subs. (old).—Opprobrious epithets for a
Dutchman. [? In allusion to Holland producing large quantities of
butter. Cf., quot., 1811.]
1600. Dekker, Gentle Craft, wks. (1873) I., 21. We have not men
enow, but wee must entertaine every butter-box. [M.]
1650. Howell, Familiar Letters. And for the latter strength we may
thank our countryman Ward, and Dansker the butterbag Hollander,
which may be said to have bin two of the fatallest and most
infamoust men that ever Christendom bred.
1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. Butter-box. A Dutchman, from the great
quantity of butter eaten by the people of that country.
Butter-Boat. To empty the butter-boat, phr. (common).—To lavish praise;
to battle. [From butter-boat, a table utensil employed for serving
melted butter.]
1865. Sat. Review, 7 Jan., p. 16, col. 2. That kind of praise which
feels like the butter-boat down one’s back. [M.]
1866. J. H. Skinner, After Storm, I., 181. He praised some things
and gave advice about others, using the butter-boat less freely
than is customary at volunteer inspections. [M.]
Butter-Box.—See Butter-bag.
Buttercups, subs. (common).—A graceful pet name for children.
1877. E. L. Linton, World Well Lost, ch. vii. Hilda was still in
the schoolroom, and seldom appeared even at afternoon tea; which in
general is licensed to include ‘buttercups.’
Buttered, ppl. adj. (old).—1. Whipped. Cf., Dusted, Tanned, etc.
(q.v.).