BUTLER

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

• BUTLER (noun)
  The noun BUTLER has 3 senses:

1. a manservant (usually the head servant of a household) who has charge of wines and the table

2. English novelist who described a fictitious land he called Erewhon (1835-1902)

3. English poet (1612-1680)

  Familiarity information: BUTLER used as a noun is uncommon.

• BUTLER (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A manservant (usually the head servant of a household) who has charge of wines and the table

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

butler; pantryman

Hypernyms ("butler" is a kind of...):

manservant (a man servant)

Sense 2

Meaning:

English novelist who described a fictitious land he called Erewhon (1835-1902)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Butler; Samuel Butler

Instance hypernyms:

author; writer (writes (books or stories or articles or the like) professionally (for pay))

Sense 3

Meaning:

English poet (1612-1680)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting people

Synonyms:

Butler; Samuel Butler

Instance hypernyms:

poet (a writer of poems (the term is usually reserved for writers of good poetry))

 Context examples 

Mr. Butler is a noted public speaker.

(Martin Eden, by Jack London)

We were at breakfast when the Colonel’s butler rushed in with all his propriety shaken out of him.

(The Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

“You may say so, sir, indeed,” returned the butler.

(The Strange Case Of Dr. Jekyll And Mr. Hyde, by Robert Louis Stevenson)

There came a gentle flow of soothing explanation from the butler.

(His Last Bow, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He ordered his cooks and butlers, who were already prepared, to give me victuals and drink, which they pushed forward in a sort of vehicles upon wheels, till I could reach them.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

The butler had hardly closed the door behind him when Lady Hilda was down on her knees at Holmes’s feet, her hands outstretched, her beautiful face upturned and wet with her tears.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

An island thousands of miles off, where they make wine—the butler did tell me—"Madeira?" I suggested.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

It was only after a painful and prolonged scene that she was ejected by the butler and the footman.

(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

I found afterwards that he was the chauffeur, who filled the gaps left by a succession of fugitive butlers.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

With all the state which a butler and foot-boy could give, Mr Elliot was ushered into the room.

(Persuasion, by Jane Austen)