butter up
English[edit]
Verb[edit]
butter up (third-person singular simple present butters up, present participle buttering up, simple past and past participle buttered up)
- (transitive, figuratively) To flatter, especially with the intent of personal gain.
- He takes every opportunity to butter up the boss.
- 2013, Daniel Taylor, Danny Welbeck leads England's rout of Moldova but hit by Ukraine ban (in The Guardian, 6 September 2013)[1]
- Joe Hart finished the night without a single grass stain on his kit and it was just a surprise the team did not butter up their goal difference even more once Welbeck had clipped in Lambert's through-ball five minutes into the second half.
Translations[edit]
to flatter
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References[edit]
- “Butter up”, in BBC Learning English[2], BBC, 23 September 2014