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# butter

noun (butter, uncountable); verb (butter, butters, buttered, buttering)

«butter» in the English dictionary: everyday and in Jewish tradition — its meanings, how the lessons use it, and examples, each with its tree on Mova.

## Everyday

1. Butter is a soft, yellow food made from cream, which people spread on bread or use in cooking. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/butter/#m1)
2. To butter something means to spread butter on it. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/butter/#m2)
3. Peanut butter and other «butters» are smooth spreads made from crushed nuts or seeds. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/butter/#m3)

### In the lessons

In cooking lessons butter is used in cakes, biscuits and sauces; it melts when warm and goes hard in the fridge, which is a good example of melting and solidifying in science. Butter is made by churning (shaking or stirring) cream until the fat sticks together. In health lessons butter is a fat, so it is eaten in small amounts. Phrases: bread and butter, peanut butter, butter up (to flatter), butterfingers (someone who drops things).

### Examples

- Spread some butter on your toast. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/butter/#x1)
- Mum buttered the bread for our sandwiches. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/butter/#x2)
- Butter melts in a hot pan. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/butter/#x3)
- We made butter at school by shaking cream in a jar. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/butter/#x4)
- Keep the butter in the fridge so it stays fresh. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/butter/#x5)
- I'm allergic to peanuts, so I can't eat peanut butter. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/butter/#x6)
- You need butter, sugar, flour and eggs to make a cake. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/butter/#x7)
- Oops, butterfingers! You dropped the ball again. [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/butter/#x8)
- “Curly is taking both butter and honey.” [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/butter/#x9)

### Note

Uncountable: some butter, a piece of butter (not «a butter»). Butter is made from milk, so people with a milk allergy cannot eat it. Do not use butter on burns; that is a myth — cool a burn with cool running water instead.

## In Jewish tradition

Butter in the Bible is often made from the milk of cows or sheep. It was a sign of rich food and plenty.

**Interpretation.** Job remembers his past blessing as a time when his path ran with butter and oil. The tradition reads this as a picture of God's abundance in a good life.

### Examples

- When my steps were washed with butter, and the rock poured me out rivers of oil! (Writings JOB.29.6, JPS 1917) [tree →](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/B/butter/#x1)

### Note

Uncountable: some butter, a piece of butter (not «a butter»). Butter is made from milk, so people with a milk allergy cannot eat it. Do not use butter on burns; that is a myth — cool a burn with cool running water instead.

## On Mova

- [Trees and pragmatics of «butter» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/B/butter/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«butter» in the school dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/school/w/butter.html) on Mova free.
- [Trees and pragmatics of «butter» in the Judaism dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/judaism/B/butter/): every meaning and example parsed by Mova, with its dependency tree and frames.
- [«butter» in the Judaism dictionary](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/dictionaries/judaism/w/butter.html) on Mova free.