英语词源字典 - 在线词源网站

butter-fingered (adj.)[butter-fingered 词源字典]: "apt to let things fall," 1610s, from butter (n.) + finger (n.).[butter-fingered etymology, butter-fingered origin, 英语词源]
buttercup (n.): type of small wildflower with a yellow bloom, 1777, from a merger of two older names, gold-cups and butterflower. See butter (n.) + cup (n.).
butterfingers (n.): "person apt to let things fall," 1837; see butter-fingered.
butterfly (n.): Old English buttorfleoge, evidently butter (n.) + fly (n.), but of obscure signification. Perhaps based on the old notion that the insects (or witches disguised as butterflies) consume butter or milk that is left uncovered. Or, less creatively, simply because the pale yellow color of many species' wings suggests the color of butter. Another theory connects it to the color of the insect's excrement, based on Dutch cognate boterschijte. An overview of words for "butterfly" in various languages can be found here. Also see papillon.

Applied to persons from c. 1600, originally in reference to vain and gaudy attire; by 1806 in reference to transformation from early lowly state; in reference to flitting tendencies by 1873. The swimming stroke so called from 1936. Butterflies "light stomach spasms caused by anxiety" is from 1908.
The butterfly effect is a deceptively simple insight extracted from a complex modern field. As a low-profile assistant professor in MIT's department of meteorology in 1961, [Edward] Lorenz created an early computer program to simulate weather. One day he changed one of a dozen numbers representing atmospheric conditions, from .506127 to .506. That tiny alteration utterly transformed his long-term forecast, a point Lorenz amplified in his 1972 paper, "Predictability: Does the Flap of a Butterfly's Wings in Brazil Set Off a Tornado in Texas?" [Peter Dizikes, "The Meaning of the Butterfly," The Boston Globe, June 8, 2008]
buttermilk (n.): 1520s, from butter (n.) + milk (n.). Compare German Buttermilch. It is what remains after the butter has been churned out.
butternut (n.): also butter-nut, 1753, nut of the white walnut, a North American tree; transferred to the tree itself from 1783. The nut's color was a brownish-gray, hence the word was used (1861) to describe the warm gray color of the Southern army uniforms in the American Civil War.
buttery (adj.): "resembling butter," late 14c., from butter (n.) + -y (2). Related: Butteriness.
buttery (n.): "place for storing liquor," originally "room where provisions are laid up" (late 14c.), from Old French boterie, from Late Latin botaria, from bota, variant of butta "cask, bottle;" see butt (n.2) + -ery.
butthead (n.): also butt-head, late 1980s, student slang, "objectionable person," from butt (n.1) + head (n.); perhaps influenced by butterhead, 1960s black slang for one who is a disgrace to the community. Earlier, butthead meant simply "the butt end, bottom" of anything (1630s).
butthole (n.): also butt-hole, "anus," 1950s slang, from butt (n.1) + hole (n.). Earlier it meant "blind hole; cul-de-sac" (early 20c.).
buttinski (n.): a jocular name for one who cuts into a line, etc., 1902, American English, from verbal phrase butt in (see butt (v.)) + surname ending based on Eastern European names.
buttock (n.): late 13c., singular of buttocks (q.v.).
buttocks (n.): late 13c., probably related to Old English buttuc "end, short piece of land" (see butt (n.1)).
button (n.): c. 1300 (surname Botouner "button-maker" attested from mid-13c.), from Old French boton "a button," originally "a bud" (12c., Modern French bouton), from bouter, boter "to thrust," common Romanic (Spanish boton, Italian bottone), ultimately from Germanic (see butt (v.)). Thus a button is, etymologically, something that pushes up, or thrusts out.

Meaning "point of the chin" is pugilistic slang, by 1921. A button as something you push to create an effect by closing an (electrical) circuit is attested from 1840s. Button-pusher as "deliberately annoying or provocative person" is attested by 1990 (in reference to Bill Gates, in "InfoWorld" magazine, Nov. 19). In the 1980s it meant "photographer."
button (v.): late 14c., "to furnish with buttons;" early 15c., "to fasten with buttons" (of a garment,) from button (n.) or from Old French botoner (Modern French boutonner), from boton (n.). Related: Buttoned; buttoning. Button-down (adj.) in reference to shirt collars is from 1916.
button-hole (n.): 1560s, from button (n.) + hole (n.). The verb, also buttonhole, meaning "to detain (someone) in conversation against his will" (1862) was earlier button-hold (1834), from button-holder (1806, in this sense). The image is of holding someone by the coat-button so as to detain him.
buttonwood (n.): also button-wood, "North American plane tree," 1690s, from button (n.) + wood (n.). So called for their characteristic round fruit.
buttress (n.): early 14c., from Old French (arc) botrez "flying buttress," apparently from bouter "to thrust against," of Frankish origin (compare Old Norse bauta "to strike, beat"), from Proto-Germanic *butan, from PIE root *bhau- "to strike" (see butt (v.)).
buttress (v.): late 14c., literal and figurative, from buttress (n.). Related: Buttressed; buttressing.
butty (n.): "slice of bread and butter," 1855, northern English, from butter (n.) + -y (2).