Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A person who tends to drop things.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. One who lets drop anything he ought to hold; a butter-fingered person; specifically, in base-ball and cricket, one who ‘muffs’ a ball.
Wiktionary
- n. someone who is clumsy or uncoordinated; a klutz; someone who tends to drop things
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. someone who drops things (especially one who cannot catch a ball); a person who is butter-fingered.
WordNet 3.0
- n. someone who drops things (especially one who cannot catch a ball)
Etymologies
- From butter (a slippery substance) + finger (Wiktionary)
Examples
“Unfortuntely butterfingers is president, so staying there is probably more of a broken pottery situation than leaving at this point.”
“I used to play with my brothers at home, but they always called me 'butterfingers'; so I've quite given it up, and I won't even field for them now.”
“In the past, he has referred to one (Kwame Brown) as "butterfingers" and another (Vladimir Radmanovic) as a "space cadet.”
“In the past, he has referred to one Kwame Brown as "butterfingers" and another”
“: England goalkeeper Robert Air Force One Green dominated the headlines as a "butterfingers" after ...”
“Pakistan has had another attack of the 'butterfingers', costing the tourists the chance to put Australia, and captain Ricky Ponting in particular, under severe pressure on the opening day of the third Test at Bellerive Oval.”
“butterfingers' as he brought up an unbeaten half-century to guide his team out of early trouble on the opening day of the third Test at Bellerive Oval.”
“butterfingers' as he brought up only his second Test century on his home ground to guide his team out of early trouble on the opening day of the third Test at Bellerive Oval.”
“She was born with butterfingers and was a magnet for disaster, a one-woman wrecking ball.”
“The knife that precedes the bigger knife that precedes the spoon that precedes the flat fork, with stuff like that I'm all butterfingers”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘butterfingers’.
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Not edible
Things that sound edible but are not (usually). See Liberty's To Eat, or Not to Eat? for more diet food.
cinnabar, dulcimer, belfries, potto, maltha, grapple, loam, rake, tort, pomade, buffalo chip, wedgie and 172 more...
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Gapeseeds and Muckworms - Compound De...
A list of compound derogatory names such as gapeseed, muckworm and lickspittle. Your one-word contributions to this list are welcome.
See sionnach's list derogatory terms I should use ...gapeseed, muckworm, lickspittle, makeweight, bootlicker, backscratcher, apple-polisher, backslapper, brownnoser, rakeshame, yesman, freeloader and 293 more...
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((Eye)) CBS = I See B.S.
Input limited to 30 seconds, so we needed to find cost-effective ways to become a part of your life. Uninvited houseguest technology: the link technique, thoughts as real estate. The full potential...
joy, dodge, ram, monster, coke, snuggle, gateway, ivory, life, subway, crunch, crest and 151 more...
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WF - nominal compounds (figurative)
An extensive list I have been working on for quite some time. Feel free to add more of the kind if you miss any.
brainstorming, upside, downside, goldplating, bikeshedding, mudslinging, downgrading, headhunter, streamlining, mainstreaming, gerrymandering, frontloading and 503 more...
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This list is like butter
peanut butter, almond butter, butter of antimony, mineral butter, butter of arsenic, soy nut butter, apple butter, cocoa butter, butter bean, butter clam, butterfly, cacao butter and 72 more...
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Pluralia Tantum
Nouns that are common in plural form but are non-existent or rarely used in singular form.
scissors, thanks, clothes, remains, tights, trousers, pants, news, billiards, means, mathematics, physics and 221 more...
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B is for Blue Canary
My B Words
bugbear, bette davis eyes, backstroke, barney, babushka, babycakes, backscratcher, bad news bears, balderdash, ballyhoo, baloney, bamboozle and 150 more...
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I'm Giving You the Finger
The finger list, that is!
fingertip, fingerprint, fingernail, finger-pointing, fingerling, fingerboard, fingerpost, fingerless, fingerpick, fingerstyle, finger-paint, finger-roll and 69 more...
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lunatic fringe
*interesting* -nge/-nge- words
lozenge, syringe, twinge, cringe, fringe, expunge, grunge, revenge, avenge, hinge, melange, impinge and 48 more...
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Patrycja K
Moja lista ; )
neckerchief, Indian summer, hitch-hiker, goddaughter, godson, absent-minded, madhouse, butterfingers, Gemini, semidetached house, touch wood, breaking in
Tweets
Looking for tweets for butterfingers.
Noticeboard fajtłapa May 19, 2011
ramsler By analogy with someone whose fingers are coated with butter during eating or cooking and drops something in the kitchen or while dining because of the slippery effect. The analogy seems to extend beyond butter to other slippery food coatings, and even outside the food context to slippery substances such as oil, e.g., "he dropped the wrench because his fingers were coated with grease from the car. His companion yelled at him, "You're a real butterfingers today" Jun 21, 2009