Butterfingered
adj ·Uncommon ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 Prone to dropping things; clumsy.
"[S]hee [a housewife] muſt be cleanly both in body and garments, ſhe muſt haue a quicke eye, a curious noſe, a perfect taſte and a ready care (ſhe muſt not be butter fingered, ſweet-toothed, nor faint hearted); for, the firſt will let euery thing fall, the ſecond will conſume what it ſhould increaſe, and the laſt will looſe time with too much niceneſſe."
- 1 lacking physical movement skills, especially with the hands wordnet
Example
More examples"[S]hee [a housewife] muſt be cleanly both in body and garments, ſhe muſt haue a quicke eye, a curious noſe, a perfect taſte and a ready care (ſhe muſt not be butter fingered, ſweet-toothed, nor faint hearted); for, the firſt will let euery thing fall, the ſecond will conſume what it ſhould increaſe, and the laſt will looſe time with too much niceneſſe."
Etymology
From butter + fingered (“having fingers (of the specified kind)”), an allusion to people tending to drop things because their hands are so slippery that they seem to be covered in butter.
Related phrases
More for "butterfingered"
Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.