Butter

(Heb. hemah), curdled milk (Gen. 18:8; Judg. 5:25; 2 Sam. 17:29), or butter in the form of the skim of hot milk or cream, called by the Arabs kaimak, a semi-fluid (Job 20:17; 29:6; Deut. 32:14). The words of Prov. 30:33 have been rendered by some “the pressure [not churning] of milk bringeth forth cheese.”

Curdled milk. (Genesis 18:8; 32:14; Judges 5:25; Job 20:17) Milk is generally offered to travellers in Palestine in a curdled or sour state, leben, thick, almost like butter. Hasselquist describes the method of making butter employed by the Arab women: “they made butter in a leather bag, hung on three poles erected for the purpose, in the form of a cone, and drawn to and fro by two women.”

BUT'TER . As this word is used in the Scriptures, it probably means sour or coagulated milk, which, when mingled with water, is still regarded as a very agreeable and refreshing beverage by Eastern nations. Gen 18:8. Their butter, such as it was, might have been sometimes clarified and preserved in jars, as at the present day in Asia, and when poured out resembles rich oil. The figurative expression in Job 29:6, "I washed my steps with butter," denotes primarily the abundance with which the patriarch was blessed; but it is also supposed by some to refer to the great quantities of cream which his herds produced, and which were trodden into butter. This fanciful interpretation aside, the passage seems to be self-explanatory, the figurative allusion to butter having the same force and effect as that to oil. The place of butter as a general article of food in the East was supplied in some measure by the vegetable oil which was so abundant. Butter was made by pouring the milk into a goat-skin, and then shaking or treading it to and fro in a uniform direction until the separation of the butter took place. The butter mentioned in Jud 5:25 was probably cream, or a preparation of which cream was a component part. It is not improbable that the bottle of milk in the passage cited was no other than a skin which had been used as a churn, and that the refreshment was butter-milk, presented in the richest vessel that was at hand. Butter-milk is still esteemed a most refreshing beverage by the Arabs. Butter and honey were used together, and were esteemed among the choicest productions of the land. And travellers tell us that the Arabs now use cream or new butter mixed with honey as a principal delicacy.

BUT'TER . As this word is used in the Scriptures, it probably means sour or coagulated milk, which, when mingled with water, is still regarded as a very agreeable and refreshing beverage by Eastern nations. Gen 18:8. Their butter, such as it was, might have been sometimes clarified and preserved in jars, as at the present day in Asia, and when poured out resembles rich oil. The figurative expression in Job 29:6, "I washed my steps with butter," denotes primarily the abundance with which the patriarch was blessed; but it is also supposed by some to refer to the great quantities of cream which his herds produced, and which were trodden into butter. This fanciful interpretation aside, the passage seems to be self-explanatory, the figurative allusion to butter having the same force and effect as that to oil. The place of butter as a general article of food in the East was supplied in some measure by the vegetable oil which was so abundant. Butter was made by pouring the milk into a goat-skin, and then shaking or treading it to and fro in a uniform direction until the separation of the butter took place. The butter mentioned in Jud 5:25 was probably cream, or a preparation of which cream was a component part. It is not improbable that the bottle of milk in the passage cited was no other than a skin which had been used as a churn, and that the refreshment was butter-milk, presented in the richest vessel that was at hand. Butter-milk is still esteemed a most refreshing beverage by the Arabs.
Butter and honey were used together, and were esteemed among the choicest productions of the land. And travellers tell us that the Arabs now use cream or new butter mixed with honey as a principal delicacy.

Part of speech: noun (n.)

1. An oily, unctuous substance obtained from cream or milk by churning.

2. Any substance resembling butter in degree of consistence, or other qualities, especially, in old chemistry, the chloridess, as butter of antimony, sesquichloride of antimony; also, certain concrete fat oils remaining nearly solid at ordinary temperatures, as butter of cacao, vegetable butter, shea butter. Butter and eggs (Bot.), a name given to several plants having flowers of two shades of yellow, as Narcissus incomparabilis, and in the United States to the toadflax (Linaria vulgaris). -- Butter boat, a small vessel for holding melted butter at table. -- Butter flower, the buttercup, a yellow flower. -- Butter print, a piece of carved wood used to mark pats of butter; -- called also butter stamp. Locke. -- Butter tooth, either of the two middle incisors of the upper jaw. -- Butter tree (Bot.), a tree of the genus Bassia, the seeds of which yield a substance closely resembling butter. The butter tree of India is the B. butyracea; that of Africa is the Shea tree (B. Parkii). See Shea tree. -- Butter trier, a tool used in sampling butter. -- Butter wife, a woman who makes or sells butter; -- called also butter woman. [Obs. or Archaic]

Part of speech: noun (n.)

One who, or that which, butts.

Part of speech: verb (v.)

1. To cover or spread with butter. I know what's what. I know on which side My bread is buttered. Ford.

2. To increase, as stakes, at every throw or every game. [Cant] Johnson.