Dictionary

buttercross en · NOUN

Etymology

From butter + cross.

Meanings

1. A type of market cross associated with English market towns and dating from mediaeval times; fresh market produce was laid out and displayed on the circular stepped bases of the cross.
   • Pontefract's wide, irregular Market Place, thronged every Wednesday, Friday and Saturday with market stalls, is dominated by its Buttercross, a sturdy structure consisting of a stone roof supported by stone columns built in 1734 to shelter dairy traders and still today offering protection from the sun and rain. 2015, Jos Simon, The Rough Guide to Yorkshire, Rough Guides UK, page 134:
   • The winning scorer is chaired back to Hallaton's ancient conical buttercross to sample the beer, after which competitors and onlookers continue the celebrations at the village's three pubs - […]. 1980, AA Book of British Villages, Drive Publications Ltd, page 214:
   • Another interesting structure in the town centre is the Buttercross, with its pitched roof supported on six circular stone columns. 2011, Eric Newton, Lands End to John O'Groats with a Bus Pass and a Dog, AuthorHouse, page 68:
   • Just north of the village is a buttercross, or town market meeting place. 2018, Ann Latham Cudworth, Extending Virtual Worlds, Taylor & Francis (CRC Press), page 225:

Forms