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 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 In an attempt to butter up his new boss, Lasso bakes shortbread biscuits for the team's owner. Sabrina Weiss, PEOPLE.com, 8 Oct. 2021 This year’s CinemaCon festivities are expected to be muted, to say the least, compared to the past when studio heads and the world’s biggest movie stars would fly in to butter up theater owners. Ryan Faughnder, Los Angeles Times, 24 Aug. 2021 See More

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'butter up.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

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 29 Nov. 2023.

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