margarine

plural margarines

1. uncountableusuallyA spread, manufactured from a blend of vegetable oils (some of which are hydrogenated), emulsifiers etc, mostly used as a substitute for butter.

   Synonyms: marg, marge, oleo, oleomargarine

2. dateduncountableusuallyThe solid ingredient of human fat, olive oil, etc.

present singular third person margarines · participle present margarining · participle past margarined · past margarined

1. transitiveTo spread or cover (something) with margarine.

   She is margarining a slice of bread, rubbing the grease carefully into the crumb.

   1993, Helen Dunmore, chapter 16, in Zennor in Darkness, London: Penguin Books, published 1994, →ISBN, page 190

   3 more examples

   Putting the finishing touches on her party dinner, this attractive hostess does the last minute job of margarining her rolls to serve piping hot to her guests.

   1952 May 15, “Pretty Hostess Adds Finishing Touch”, in C[harles] L[ee] Blanton, Jr., editor, Daily Sikeston Standard, volume 40, number 200, Sikeston, Mo.: Sikeston Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 2, column 2

   Now that she was back in the land of the living, she took to margarining our toast again.

   1998, Andrea Ashworth, chapter 9, in Once in a House on Fire, London: Picador, →ISBN, page 135

   He has been totally occupied since we sat down, margarining every inch of his roll, likewise his baked potato, salting down everything in sight.

   2014, Judith Felsenfeld, “The Fugitive”, in Blaustein’s Kiss: Stories, Rhinebeck, N.Y.: Epigraph Publishing Service, →ISBN, pages 123–124

   Synonyms: marge