adj. phr. (common).—Apt to let things fall; greasy; slippery. Hence, BUTTER-FINGERS = a sarcastic address.
1615. GERVASE MARKHAM, The English Housewife, II., ii. (1668), 51. She must not be BUTTER-FINGERED, sweet-toothed, nor faint-hearted; for the first will let everything fall, the second will consume what it should increase, and the last will lose time with too much niceness.
1857. TOM HOOD, Pen and Pencil Pictures, 141. He was a slovenly player, and went among the cricket-lovers by the sobriquet of BUTTER-FINGERS.
1861. G. MEREDITH, Evan Harrington. The long-hit-off, he who never was known to miss a catch—BUTTER-FINGERED beast!—he has let the ball slip through his fingers.
1883. M. E. BRADDON, The Golden Calf, xiv. I never allow no BUTTER-FINGERED girls in this room, except to sweep or scrub under my own eye. There’s not many ornaments, but what there is is precious, and the apple of master’s eye.
