Not in DARE?

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>... I had in mind the specific
>term, "catbutter," which makes no obvious sense - why "cat" and why
>"butter"? - and is extremely limited in its use. Nevertheless, it seems
>to find a kind of echo in German "augenbutter," which makes slightly
>more sense, given that "augen-" at least means "eye-."

DARE shows "duck butter" (q.v.; there is also "goose butter") in the same
sense ("eye stuff"). Why "cat", "duck", "goose"? I don't know.

"Duck butter" of course means also (1) semen, (2) smegma. There is also
"gnat butter"; also "gnat bread".

Maybe the animal name is more or less arbitrary, or at least senseless in
its current choice. Maybe at one time there was some rationale for calling
one thing "cat butter" and another thing "duck butter" etc. but they got
confused over the years.

-- Doug Wilson