Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Any of numerous herbs of the genus Ranunculus, native chiefly to temperate and cold regions and having acrid juice, often toothed or lobed leaves, and usually yellow or white flowers with numerous pistils.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A name given to most of the common species of Ranunculus with bright-yellow cup-shaped flowers and divided leaves, such as
- n. A small, square sugar-plum, colored in a variety of tints, and somewhat creamy inside.
- n. Ranunculus septentrionalis, a vigorous species growing on wet ground in the eastern half of the United States, with the later branches prostrate and rooting.
Wiktionary
- n. Any of many herbs, of the genus Ranunculus, having yellow flowers; the crowfoot.
- n. Any flower of the genus Narcissus; a daffodil
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. (Bot.) A plant of the genus Ranunculus, or crowfoot, particularly Ranunculus bulbosus, with bright yellow flowers; -- called also
butterflower ,golden cup , andkingcup . It is thecuckoobud of Shakespeare.
WordNet 3.0
- n. any of various plants of the genus Ranunculus
Examples
“They will gladly accept the conclusion that the marvellous qualities and activities of living things and that inscrutable wonder, the mind of man, are outcomes of the orderly process of Nature no less than are the miracles which we call a buttercup, a rock crystal, a glacier, the noon-day sun!”
“Lieutenant Peary found making gay the frosty fields of Greenland, in buttercup-yellow and orange and white; the great Orientals, gorgeous beyond expression; the immense single white California variety.”
“Mar 2nd, 2010 at 2: 37 pm kcijones001: buttercup is 400 times better than magnolia; cake is better, not great because they’re not consistent ..”
“But the glitter of the buttercup, which is as nothing to the glitter of a gold dollar in the eyes of a practical farmer, fills him with wrath when this immigrant takes possession of his pastures.”
“Like the ox-eye daisy, the buttercup is a typical meadow flower, tall, so that it tops the grasses and catches the sun in its petals, thin-foliaged, for no real grass-growing flower has broad or remarkable leaves, and with”
“The outskirts of this level water-meadow were diversified by rounded and hollow pastures, where just now every flower that was not a buttercup was a daisy.”
“Also known as buttercup, it is sweet but not watery and its texture reminds me of chestnuts.”
“Great care should be taken, however, that it is a plant of the correct species, for in the etiquette of courtship all flowers have different meanings and many a promising affair has been ruined because a suitor sent his lady a buttercup, meaning "That's the last dance I'll ever take you to, you big cow," instead of a plant with a more tender significance.”
“The buttercup which is tall with a flower at the end of a high firm stalk and leaves with slender spike fingers, if it grows in an open meadow, becomes a stunted flower on a short stem, and its leaves form squat webs, in order to force its growth on a close-cropped lawn.”
Women's Wild Oats Essays on the Re-fixing of Moral Standards
“You lack the intellect to go toe to toe with nov, "buttercup"!”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘buttercup’.
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LIT - Ulysses - key words and phrases
money cowrie, bedraggle, omphalos, ineluctable, postprandial, bladderwrack, modality barnacle..., loofah, shipworm, cither, embattle, Malachi and 503 more...
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• Wordies talk about themselves
Sometimes users are also persons.
llogos, peter stickles, old age, 39, insomnia, frown of approval, chuck norris, ovular, gay, fencing, rabbits, seven empty cups ... and 137 more...
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songbirds
Names of girls in song titles. Not in the lyrics, just in the titles.
Just the name on the list, then the full title with any identifying notes in the comments, please.
Can be the same ...marianne, evie, lady d'arbanville, peggy sue, suzanne, dianne, boni maroni, miss molly, lola, mony, sadie, rita and 206 more...
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food collection
bread, peel, pot, chorizo, Filet, olive, fill, Phyllo, dough, bake, mat, pinot and 988 more...
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Flora
Flowers and plants have some of the most beautiful names.
These are often the common names, as opposed to the scientific or botanical names.daffodil, gardenia, tulip, snapdragon, violet, orchid, bleeding heart, daisy, lily, lilac, narcissus, rose and 278 more...
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Nicknames you shouldn't give to an ax...
primrose, snookums, lavender, piglet, rainbow sunshine, kitten, fuzzy, sweetie, wiggles, care bear, love-a-lot, cheery and 87 more...
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♥
ambrosia, inamorata, gossamer, lily-white, hummingbird, roucoulement, poppy, daisy, calypso, lunula, lamb, dove and 1526 more...
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Color Words for Shoes
Vendors can get oddly creative.
amaranth, brindle, iguana, slate black, madder brown, bison, pinecone, seal brown, forest night, burnt orange, monument, beet red and 399 more...
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Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and ...
Words that, as I see it, have some fond connection to the Alice stories through their creation or particular use by Lewis Carroll. I mean to tie them all together with contexty comments!
alice, daisy-chain, white rabbit, waistcoat-pocket, rabbit-hole, marmalade, antipathy, antipode, curtsey, dinah, tea-time, rat-hole and 232 more...
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the first list
an immense, grandiloquent list that loads like a thousand years sentence in stone. new words are in the other lists.
ridiculous, brummagem, predicament, sanctimonious, vapid, eschew, admonish, auspicious, capitulation, enumerate, lachrymose, tenet and 1648 more...
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minneapolitan's Words
hissyfit, fussbudget, aghast, lament, trichinellosis, tranche, decadent, aspersion, pejorative, aniline, galoshes, accede and 200 more...
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The O.U.P. Junior Dictionary Death Row
Another news story about words being removed from a dictionary before their time. See also the list of words added to the dictionary.
carol, cracker, holly, ivy, mistletoe, dwarf, elf, goblin, abbey, aisle, altar, bishop and 137 more...
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elvesoncrack's Words
lachrymose, blustering, fjord, chihuahua, chiffon, catalytic, stile, gefilte, prosh, thwart, ralph, ickle and 379 more...
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Flora
fenugreek, verbena, saxifrage, arbutus, calendula, nasturtium, lobelia, hellebore, rhododendron, philodendron, bellflower, heuchera and 449 more...
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Did Someone Say a Dinner Party?
It's a hazardous world out there...poison all around. I've tried not to include too many drugs (including medicines) and have ignored the fact that too much of anything can poison you. We're going ...
cyanide, botulinum, chlorine, mustard gas, hydrogen cyanide gas, mercury, arsenic, ricin, strychnine, aconite, acetic acid, acetone and 147 more...
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Learned words
Words which are highly likely to be found in the work of learned writers.
ailurophile, labyrinthine, lagniappe, colleague, anechoic, reglets, fluctuations, scalar, implicit, constitute, mortification, ambassadors and 629 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for buttercup.

chained_bear I love that story. And I know a guy just like your dad. :) Jan 27, 2009
reesetee Third. Wonderful story, sionnach. Jan 27, 2009
bilby Second that. Jan 27, 2009
rolig Sionnach, what a lovely story about your mother ! Thank you for sharing it. Jan 27, 2009
dontcry The sled in Citizen Kane.
Also the print on the Laura Ashley bed dressings I bought for my daughter when she was a little girl. Pretty pink rosebuds on one side, pink ticking on the other. Ahhhh. Soooo pretty! Jan 27, 2009
sionnach Rosebud Jan 26, 2009
anydelirium The heroine and title character in William Goldman's book 'The Princess Bride'. Feb 17, 2008
sionnach The pinup bum-boat lady, immortalized in song by Gilbert and Sullivan. Feb 9, 2008