DCHP-3

butter tub

[< Cdn F pot au beurre in similar sense, a term used by the fur traders and voyageurs]
Slang, Hist.
DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

Entry from the DCHP-1 (pre-1967)

This entry may contain outdated or offensive information, terms, and examples.

jail; guard-house, especially at a police post or trading post.

Quotations

1927
"Did you ever hear . . . of the Butter Vat?" I made no answer . . . for I had indeed heard of the Butter Vat. The "Pot au Beurre," the half-breeds called it. . . . It was the dungeon of the Northwesters, from which prisoners . . . did not often come out alive.
1936
. . . he had a sickening vision of himself lying in a Police "butter-tub " . . . .
1954
There was . . . a jail--the pot au beurre, or butter tub, the voyageurs called it--where unruly young men cooled off after some of the worst brawls.