butterball
butterball Lexical Profile
butterball Game Scores & Validity
• noun
A plump, chubby, or rotund person or animal, especially a baby or young child.
"The newborn puppy was a little butterball that waddled across the kitchen floor."
A small portion of butter shaped into a sphere for serving at the table, or a rich, round confection made with butter.
"The waiter placed a chilled dish of decorative butterballs alongside the basket of warm rolls."
North American The bufflehead (Bucephala albeola), a small North American diving duck of the family Anatidae that has a plump body and a large white patch on the back of its head.
"A small flock of butterballs bobbed in the sheltered cove before diving for aquatic invertebrates."
• Nearby Words
Word Origin & Etymology
A compound formed from 'butter' and 'ball', first recorded in the 19th century as a culinary term for a rounded pat of butter and later extended figuratively to plump birds and people.