Dictionary

butter-ham en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /bʊtəɹam/ (Northern-English)

Etymology

From butter + ham, a calque of Dutch boterham.

Meanings

1. (obsolete) A slice of buttered bread.
   • Faith, I was within ams-ace of being found out ; for one night at a mum-house, where I was eating a butter-ham and pickled herrings, with some of the states, and where I was giving my self airs of greatness and interest in my country, swearing I myself would take care that my country, and three counties round about me, should choose none but hearty Whigs. 1771, Charles Davenant, Charles Whitworth, The Political And Commercial Works, page 240:
   • Give me a butterham, with flesh, and a half-bottle wine. 1871, Lewis Baxter Monroe, Public and Parlor Readings, page 107:
2. (archaic) One of two strips of trim on either side of a cloak.
   • A cloak, half a yard shorter than the Breeches, not through lin'd, but fac'd as far as 'twas turned back, with a pair of frugal butter-hams. 2003, Cynthia Lowenthal, Performing Identities on the Restoration Stage, →ISBN, page 89:
3. (North, Yorkshire) a person who is overly ostentatious in their dress or actions.

Forms