From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishbutterbut‧ter1 /ˈbʌtə $ -ər/ ●●● S2 noun [uncountable] 1 DFFa solid yellow food made from milk or cream that you spread on bread or use in cooking → bread-and-butter2 → butter wouldn’t melt in somebody’s mouth —buttery adjectiveCOLLOCATIONSadjectivessalted/unsalted (=with or without salt in it)Unsalted butter is better for baking.Most butter is slightly salted.melted butter (=heated until it is liquid)Brush the pastry with a little melted butter.phrasesa pat of butter (=a small flat piece)Breakfast was a small roll and a pat of butter.a knob of butter (=a small round piece)Add a knob of butter to the meat juices in the pan.a lump of butterHe served himself a big lump of butter.verbsspread butter on somethingLee was spreading butter on his toast.spread something with butterSpread the warm crumpets with butter.melt butterMelt the butter and mix it with the other ingredients.soften butterFirst soften the butter in a warm place.
Examples from the Corpus
butter• Use colander to strain. 5 Tip peas into serving dish. 6 Get butter from refrigerator.• Hot soup, stew or casserole in a thermos flask, plus a roll - but no butter or margarine.• Or use a combination of butter and margarine in cooking if you prefer the butter flavor.• Beat the butter and sugar together.• Beat the butter in a mixing bowl until creamy and light.• The inside is soft and moist, soaking up the butter.• Roll up each piece of fish and put into an ovenproof dish, pour over the marinade and dot with the butter.• Whipped margarine, like whipped butter, has fewer calories per equal volume than regular margarine.• My sister-in-law Joy has another twist on this white / yellow / butter / salt / sweet comfort food thing.butterbutter2 verb [transitive] DFCto spread butter on something buttered toast → butter somebody ↔ up→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
butter• Neither method requires the bread to be buttered.• The toast, buttered and sugared and sprinkled with cinnamon, was cut into large triangles and laid out on platters.• buttered breadOrigin butter1 Old English butere, from Latin butyrum, from Greek boutyron, from bous “cow” + tyros “cheese” 