Emily Dickinson Lexicon

BUT'TER-MILK, n.

The milk that remains after the butter is separated from it. Johnson calls this whey; but whey is the thin part of the milk after the curd or cheese is separated. Butter-milk in America is not called whey.

BUT'TER-NUT, n. [butter and nut.]

The fruit of an American tree, the Juglans cinerea; so called from the oil it contains. The tree bears a resemblance, in its general appearance, to the black walnut, so called. It is sometimes called Oilnut and White walnut. The tree is called also Butternut or Butternut tree. Dr. M. Cutler calls it Juglans cathartica. It is the Juglans cinerea of others. – Belknap.

BUT'TER-PRINT, or BUT'TER-STAMP, n.

A piece of carved wood, used to mark cakes of butter.

BUT'TER-TOOTH, n.

A broad fore tooth. – Johnson.

BUT'TER-WIFE, or BUT'TER-WO-MAN, n.

A woman who sells butter. – Johnson.

BUT'TER-WORT, n.

A species of Pinguicula, a plant growing on bogs or soft grounds. The leaves are covered with soft pellucid prickles, which secrete a glutinous liquor; and milk, in which these are steeped, or washed, acquires, in a day or two, consistency, and is an agreeable food, used in the north of Sweden. – Encyc.

BUT'TER-Y, a. [from butter.]

Having the qualities or appearance of butter. – Harvey.

BUT'TER-Y, n.

An apartment in a house where butter, milk, provisions and utensils are kept. In some colleges, a room where liquors, fruit and refreshments are kept for sale to the students.

BUT'TING, ppr.

Striking with the head.

BUT'TOCK, n.

1. The rump or the protuberant part behind.
2. The convexity of a ship behind, under the stern. – Mar. Dict.

BUT'TON, n. [but'n; Fr. bouton, a button, a bud; W. buttun, or botwm; Corn. bottum; It. bottone; Sp. boton, a button or bud; from the root of bud, that is, a push or protuberance. See Butt.]

1. A knob; a small ball; a catch, used to fasten together the different parts of dress, made of metal, silk, mohair, wood, &c.
2. Any knob or ball fastened to another body; a small protuberant body. – Boyle. Pope.
3. A bud; a gem of a plant. – Shak.
4. The button of the reins of a bridle, is a ring of leather, with the reins passed through, which runs along the length of the reins. – Encyc.
5. A flat piece of wood, turning on a nail or screw, to fasten doors.
6. A small round mass of metal, found at the bottom of a crucible in chimical experiments. – Nicholson.
7. The sea-urchin, an animal which has prickles instead of feet. – Ainsworth.

BUT'TON, v.t. [but'n.]

1. To fasten with a button, or buttons; to inclose, or make secure with buttons; often followed with up; as, to button up a waistcoat.
2. To dress or clothe. [Not used.]

BUT'TON-BUSH, n.

The popular name of Cephalanthus occidentale.

BUT'TON-ED, pp.

Fastened with a button.

BUT'TON-HOLE, n.

The hole or loop in which a button is caught.

BUT'TON-ING, ppr.

Fastening with a button.

BUT'TON-MAK-ER, n.

One whose occupation is to make buttons.

BUT'TON-STONE, n.

A species of figured stone, or hard flint resembling a button, consisting of two bodies which appear to be the filling up of holes in a shell. A species has been found finely striated, like a mohair button. This name is given also to a species of slate found in the marquisate of Bareith. – Encyc.

BUT'TON-TREE, n.

The Conocarpous, called also Button-wood, a genus of plants, natives of the West Indies. – Fam. of Plants. Encyc.

BUT'TON-WEED, n.

The popular name of a genus of plants, the Spermacoce. – Fam. of Plants.

BUT'TON-WOOD, n.

The Platanus occidentalis, Western plane-tree, a large tree, growing in North America, producing rough balls, from which it is named. The wood is hard, and used for windlasses, wheels and blocks. – Belknap. Mease.

BUT'TRESS, n. [This word appears to be composed of but, end, and truss, or some word of that family.]

1. A prop; a wall or abutment built archwise, serving to support another wall on the outside, when very high or loaded with a heavy superstructure. – Encyc.
2. Any prop or support. – South.

BUT'TRESS, v.t.

To support by a buttress; to prop.

BUT'TRESS-ED, a.

Supported with a buttress. – Ward.

BUTTS, n. [plur. from butt.]

A place where archers meet to shoot at a mark. Also, short pieces of land in arable ridges and furrows. – Encyc.