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Glite Dictionary
butter dish

butter dish

2 1.2
A small dish with a lid for keeping and serving butter at the table
  • noun
  • /ˈbʌtər dɪʃ/
translation icon : mantequero
  • Miss Gussie fetched a jar of blackberry jelly, a butter dish, and a bowl of sugar.

Examples

  • That butter dish was our wedding gift.

    You, Me and Dupree (2006)

  • He set the butter dish back down.

    Fiction book (1996)

  • The waiters set out butter dishes, mint trays, linen-wrapped bread baskets, and bowls of grapes.

    Fiction book (1995)

  • The waiter placed a lovely butter dish on the table for our meal.

  • She carefully covered the butter dish to keep the butter fresh.

  • During dinner, everyone reached for the butter dish to spread on their rolls.

Synonyms

dish
vsbutter dish
329 1.0

A shallow round container used for holding or serving food

is smaller and often has a cover for holding a specific spread
serving dish
vsbutter dish
3 1.0

A dish used to hold food for people to share at the table

is smaller and often covered for holding a specific spread

Surface Forms

butter dish singular
butter dishes plural

Morphology

butter + dish

The meaning is directly and transparently derived from combining 'butter' (a fatty spread) with 'dish' (a vessel) to denote a dish for holding or serving butter. This straightforward noun–noun compounding follows common compositional patterns found across languages, so a B1 learner who knows both constituent words can readily infer the meaning.

Etymology

Butter dish is a simple name: a small dish with a lid that holds butter on the table so it is ready to eat. That clear image is why the phrase means 'a dish used to hold and serve butter'.