Meanings
- idiomaticinformalSynonym of whatever floats your boat.
Police said they offered to hold the man’s two black cases containing hundreds of rings, necklaces, assorted bracelets, earrings and belt buckles while he checked into a jail cell. “Whatever melts your butter,” the salesman replied.
1979 November 19, “People”, in Victoria Times, 96th year, number 135, Victoria, B.C., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 25, column 13 more examples
“[…] What’s her bond?” / “Fifteen thousand dollars.” / “She’s a mother, right? She’s got two children down there in Medellín?” / “You’re telling me . . .” / “I wouldn’t think of such a thing. You do whatever melts your butter. Just remember how poor the State of Florida is, and that we could use the bail money.”
1993, Clifford Irving, chapter 3, in Final Argument: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Simon & Schuster, →ISBN, page 36Do what you feel like, and hope that it sticks. If it doesn’t, throw it again. Maybe it sticks the next time over. And if it doesn’t, who cares? It’s just one insignificant life wasted in the vast ocean of lives all around. Whatever floats your boat, whatever melts your butter, whatever humps your camel, whatever sizzles your bacon, whatever tickles your pickle…
2008 May 14, Karan Bajaj, “It’s All a Waste”, in Keep off the Grass, New Delhi: HarperCollins Publishers India; India Today Group, →ISBN, pages 15–16Our safety briefing this morning was sprinkled with his colorful Arkansas-born sayings. “Roger, you run the lighting show. Take one or two burners, whatever melts your butter. Keep an eye on the east line. When this gets romping and stomping, I don’t want everyone scattered from here to breakfast.”
2017, Mary Emerick, “Burning the Prairies”, in Fire in the Heart: A Memoir of Friendship, Loss, and Wildfire, New York, N.Y.: Arcade Publishing, →ISBN, page 14Synonyms: whatever floats your boat
Synonyms & antonyms
phraseSynonym of whatever floats your boat.
Cite this entry
whatever melts your butter. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/whatever%20melts%20your%20butter
“whatever melts your butter.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/whatever%20melts%20your%20butter. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “whatever melts your butter,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/whatever%20melts%20your%20butter.
Source: whatever melts your butter on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.