Butlery

noun

noun ·Rare ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A butler's pantry; a serving pantry. countable
  2. 2
    The work or role of a butler. uncountable

    "The dark side of butlery was even more evident during the height of the Evil Empire, when the strongest and most enterprising local men were made into footmen and majordomos, completely robbed of their dignity but paid for a month's work what they might otherwise make in a year."

Example

More examples

"The dark side of butlery was even more evident during the height of the Evil Empire, when the strongest and most enterprising local men were made into footmen and majordomos, completely robbed of their dignity but paid for a month's work what they might otherwise make in a year."

Etymology

From Middle English buttillary, buttlarye, botelerye, botelerie, from Old French boteillerie, butelerie and Medieval Latin butellaria.

Related phrases

Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.