Butt - Definition and Overview

The term "butt" is U.S. slang for the buttocks.

The term "butt" can also mean 'end'; it is used to describe the end of a cigarette that is put into one's mouth and finally, and also the end of a gun such as a rifle. The butt of a joke is the person whom the joke mocks or embarrasses.

The term "butt" is also butcher-speak for a pork shoulder, which is very popular for barbecue. People sometimes say 'Boston butt' or simply 'pork butt'.

A wine butt (from the medieval French and Italian botte) is a large cask (or barrel) holding two hogsheads of wine. A hogshead varied in size but today is most commonly 63 U.S. gallons (approx. 238.5 litres), so a butt is now usually 126 U.S. gallons or 108 imperial gallons (approx. 477 litres).

Traditionally, a butt of beer is 162 gallons or 613 litres, and how big a butt (or "pipe") of wine is depends on what kind of wine it is:

• A butt of Madeira or of Cape Wine is 92 gallons or 348 liter.
• A butt of Sherry is 108 gallons or 409 liter.
• A butt of Brandy is 114 gallons or 431.5 liter.
• A butt of Port Wine is 115 gallons or 435 liter.

George, Duke of Clarence, the brother of Edward IV of England was drowned in a butt of malmsey, February 18, 1478.