Word.ws English Dictionary

butter would not melt in someone's mouth

butter would not melt in someone's mouth is the alternative form of butter wouldn't melt in someone's mouth.

Meaning of butter wouldn't melt in someone's mouth

Phrase

butter wouldn't melt in someone's mouth

  1. (idiomatic) The identified person appears to be benign, mild-mannered, or calm (but with an integral suggestion that, to the contrary, they really are untrustworthy, disagreeable, or mean-spirited).
    • Col. Why, they say she's one of the chief toasts in town.
      Lady S. Ay, when all the rest are out of it.
      Miss. Well; I wouldn't be as sick as she's proud for all the world.
      Lady A. She looks as if butter wouldn't melt in her mouth but, I warrant, cheese won't choke her. . . .
      Col. I can't pardon her...1738, Jonathan Swift, “Polite Conversation”, in The Works of Jonathan Swift, D. D., volume 6, published 1859, page 45
  2. (idiomatic) The identified person is prim and proper, standoffish, cool, or dispassionate.
    • All unmarried women are necessarily in the market; but if they behave themselves properly they make no signs. Now there was Griselda Grantly; of course she intended to get herself a husband, and a very grand one she has got: but she always looked as though butter would not melt in her mouth.1861, Anthony Trollope, chapter 38, in Framley Parsonage

Questions about butter would not melt in someone's mouth

What is butter would not melt in someone's mouth the alternative form of?
Butter would not melt in someone's mouth is the alternative form of butter wouldn't melt in someone's mouth.

Words near butter would not melt in someone's mouth in the dictionary

  1. butter trees
  2. butter up
  3. Butter Week
  4. butter will not melt in someone's mouth
  5. butter won't melt in someone's mouth
  6. butter would not melt in someone's mouth
  7. butter wouldn't melt in someone's mouth
  8. butter yellow
  9. butter yellows
  10. butter-and-egg man
  11. butter-and-egg men

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: butter would not melt in someone's mouth (page history and authors); butter wouldn't melt in someone's mouth (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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