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pot au beurre

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This entry may contain outdated or offensive information, terms, and examples.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

See: butter tub

Quotations

1814

[trans. from French of the Narrative of Gabriel Franchere] Behind all this is . . . a jail, not less necessary than the rest. The voyageurs give it the name of pot au beurre--the butter tub.]

1900

The voyageurs give the last [building] the name "Pot au beurre."

1927

The "Pot au Beurre," the half-breeds called it [the Butter Vat] and its fame was known even in Montreal.

1954

There was, too, a jail--the pot au beurre, or buttertub, the voyageurs called it--where unruly young men cooled off after some of the worst brawls.