Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun The head servant in a household who is usually in charge of food service, the care of silverware, and the deportment of the other servants.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A man-servant in a household whose principal duty is to take charge of the liquors, plate, etc.; the head male servant of a household.
- noun The title of an official of high rank nominally connected with the importation and supply of wine for the royal table, but having different duties in different countries and at various times.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun An officer in a king's or a nobleman's household, whose principal business it is to take charge of the liquors, plate, etc.; the head servant in a large house.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
manservant having charge of wines and liquors. - noun The
chief male servant of ahousehold who hascharge of other employees, receives guests, directs the serving of meals, and performs variouspersonal services. - noun A
valet , a male personalattendant . - verb To
buttle , to dispense wines or liquors; to take the place of a butler.
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun English poet (1612-1680)
- noun a manservant (usually the head servant of a household) who has charge of wines and the table
- noun English novelist who described a fictitious land he called Erewhon (1835-1902)
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word butler.
Examples
-
It turns out that their butler is actually 20 faces under one of his disguises.
Anime Preview: Spring 2008 First Impressions – Batch 3 « Undercover 2008
-
Alfred the butler is right he just wants to watch the world burn. nothing means anything to him. but to bring chaotic order. and he does it in such away it leaves you breathless.
Kevin's Review: The Dark Knight - The Dark Has Never Been So Bright « FirstShowing.net 2008
-
Batman punches them off when kicking his ass. justin butler you intergalatic giant nerds.
-
Himura then says that a butler is not fulfilling his responsibilities when he cannot see trash on the floor.
-
Azumamiya then tells Nonohora that he gets now what his butler is trying to teach him.
-
I mean, Harry has been hell-bent on killing Peter for quite a while now, but a brief 30 second conversation with the butler is enough to make him see the light and change his mind?
EXTRALIFE – By Scott Johnson - Attn: Nerdtacular Attendees! 2007
-
Men in butler costumes is a theme in women's "Boys 'Love" manga, which features attractive young men's homoerotic relationships:
-
Ali remembered the night Arabella Ashcroft had realized that her long-term butler was gay.
Cruel Intent J.A. Jance 2008
-
Overlook's Elephant Walk links to the story: The butler is dead!
The sheer cheek of it! Frank Wilson 2006
-
First, Faauma — the bronze candlestick, whom otherwise I called my butler — bolted from the bed and bosom of Lafaele, the Archangel Hercules, prefect of the cattle.
Vailima Letters 2005
chained_bear commented on the word butler
In castles, the person in charge of the bottles of beer and wine. (Not to be confused with bottler or buttery.)
August 24, 2008