butter up

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

A UK attempt to butter up the French leader, perhaps?

From BBC • May 17, 2025

At the center: six cinnamon rolls that a candidate alleged had been used to butter up voters during the tight mayoral race in October.

From Washington Post • Jan. 19, 2023

To get ahead, you can make the marinara base and roasted garlic butter up to a couple days before.

From Seattle Times • May 8, 2022

The company’s prepaid Connect plans launched in 2020 and were part of T-Mobile’s efforts to butter up regulators to allow its massive merger with Sprint to go through.

From The Verge • Mar. 21, 2022

“That, my boy, is the front-page article for tomorrow’s paper. Or at least it will be if I can butter up the head editor.”

From "The City Beautiful" by Aden Polydoros