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.

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

Food prices are climbing sharply in Algeria, where shoppers say cooking oil and milk are so scarce that you need to butter up shopkeepers to get any.

From BBC • Mar. 28, 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