butter up

verb

buttered up; buttering up; butters up

transitive verb

: to charm or beguile with lavish flattery or praise

Examples of butter up in a Sentence

a flunky who shamelessly butters up the boss
Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Warming the milk and butter up first helps to avoid any milk fat white spots on top of your decadent chocolate cake. Melissa Gray, Southern Living, 16 Sep. 2024 Griffin isn’t the only big-name boss to try and butter up workers by putting on an unforgettable party. Byorianna Rosa Royle, Fortune, 21 Nov. 2023 Ripple’s ongoing efforts to butter up the banking and corporate world have made the company, and by extension XRP, an object of hostility and derision among the rest of the crypto world. Jeff John Roberts, Fortune Crypto, 24 Mar. 2023 Next, coat the bottom of a casserole dish with butter, place the potatoes in, and pat more butter up on top. Dave Quinn, PEOPLE.com, 23 Nov. 2021 At the center: six cinnamon rolls that a candidate alleged had been used to butter up voters during the tight mayoral race in October. María Luisa Paúl, Washington Post, 20 Jan. 2023 Steele storms out, but Sarah stays behind to butter up the AG. Matt Cabral, EW.com, 21 Nov. 2022 But why was butter up 6% in March, while milk rose only 1.3%? Danielle Wiener-Bronner, CNN, 13 Apr. 2022 The producers even included a vegan baker in the mix, a woman who put her cakes without eggs or butter up against those ofher peers without missinga beat. Kelly Lawler, USA TODAY, 6 Nov. 2021

Word History

First Known Use

1819, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of butter up was in 1819

Dictionary Entries Near butter up

Cite this Entry

“Butter up.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/butter%20up. Accessed 21 Nov. 2024.

More from Merriam-Webster on butter up

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!