1615. Markham, English Housewife, II., ii. (1668), 51. She must not be butter-fingered, sweet-toothed, nor faint-hearted; for the first will let everything fall, etc.
1857. Hood, Pen and Pencil Pictures, p. 141. He was a slovenly player, and went among the cricket lovers by the sobriquet of butter-fingers.
1861. G. Meredith, Evan Harrington. The long-hit-off, he who never was known to miss a catch—butter-fingered beast!—he has let the ball slip through his fingers.
1883. Miss Braddon, Golden Calf, ch. xiv. 'I never allow no butter-fingered girls in this room, except to sweep or scrub, under my own eye. There's not many ornaments, but what there is is precious, and the apple of master's eye.'
Butter-Flap, subs. (rhyming slang).—A trap—i.e., a light cart.
Butterfly, subs. (nautical).—1. A river barge.
2. (cabmen's.)—The guard for the reins affixed to the top of a hansom cab.
1883. Standard, March 6, p. 6, col. 3. The box covered the whole roof of the cab, preventing him [the cabman] from seeing the butterfly. [m.]
Butternuts, subs. (American.)—The sympathisers with the South in the North and the Middle States during the American Civil War; the term was derived from the colour of the uniforms worn in the early part of the war by Confederate soldiers in the West, which, being homespun, were dyed brown with the juice of the butternut (Juglans cinerea).
Butter-Print, subs. (old).—A child; usually one that is illegitimate. Cf., Buttercup.
1620. Fletcher, Chances, I., v. You will be wiser one day, when you have purchased A bevy of these butter-prints. [m.]
1639. Beaumont and Fletcher, Wit Without Money, V., iv. I hope she has brought me no butter-print along with her to lay to my charge. [m.]
1709. Brit. Apollo, II., No. 46, p. 3, col. 2. Her Girl and her Boy, For Patterns employ, To make little Butter-Prints by. [m.]
Buttock, subs. (old).—A common prostitute. For synonyms, see Barrack-hack, and Cf., File.
1674. R. Head, Canting Academy, 105. The Bawds and the Buttocks that lived there round.
1688. Shadwell, Squire of Alsatia, I., wks. (1720) IV., 17. What ogling there will be between thee and the Blowings!. . . Every buttock shall fall down before thee.
1690. B. E., Dictionary of the Canting Crew. Buttock and file, both whore and pickpocket.
Buttock and File, subs. phr. (old).—A prostitute and her companion; sometimes bulk and file. Occasionally, too, buttock and file is used of a single individual—one who unites the roles of a thief and prostitute. [From buttock (q.v.), a whore, + file (q.v.), a pickpocket.]
1671. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. v., p. 48 (1874). Bulk and File the Pickpocket and his mate.
1754. Fielding, Jonathan Wild, bk. I., ch. v. The same capacity which qualifies a mill-ben, a bridle-cull, or a buttock and file to arrive at any degree of eminence in his profession would likewise raise a man in what the world esteem a more honourable calling.
1811. Lexicon Balatronicum. Buttock and file, a common whore and a pickpocket.
Buttock and Tongue, subs. (old).—A scolding woman; a shrew.
Buttock and Twang, subs. (old).—A common prostitute, but who refrains from theft. Cf., Buttock and file.
