Abuttery was originally a large cellar room under amonastery, in which food and drink were stored for the provisioning of strangers and passing guests. Nathan Bailey'sAn Universal Etymological English Dictionary gives "CELLARIST – one who keeps a Cella, or Buttery; the Butler in a religious House or Monastery." As the definition in John Stevens'sThe History of the Antient Abbeys shows, its initial function was to feed and water the guests rather than monks: "The Buttery; the Lodging for Guests". In a monastery a buttery was thus the place from which travellers would seek 'doles' of bread and weak ale, given at the exterior buttery door (and often via a small serving-hatch in the door, to prevent invasion of the stores by a crowd or by rough beggars). The task of doling out this free food and drink would be the role of the butterer. At larger monasteries there would also be a basic hostelry, where travellers could sleep for free.

Later the term buttery was also applied to a similar stores-room in a largemedieval house, which might or might not be a cellar, and in which the buttery served the lord and his household rather than only passing travellers.

In both its uses, a buttery is to be distinguished from the butter and lard-house (pantry orlarder), and thekitchen, a hostelry, or the refectory for guests or the dining hall for the inhabitants.

In theMiddle Ages, abuttery was a storeroom forliquor, the name being derived from theLatin andFrench words forbottle or, to put the word into its simpler form, abutt, that is, acask. Abutler, before he became able to take charge of theewery,pantry,cellar, and the staff, would be in charge of the buttery. However, the origin of the word is extremely complex, and much that has been written on the subject is faulty.

After the dissolution of the monasteries, the buttery in large houses and colleges became a place forbarrels, bottles, orbutts of alcoholic drink, and from which they were brought up and served into theGreat Hall. The buttery was then situated to one side of thescreens passage, which sectioned off the low end of theGreat Hall. The screens passage generally had two or three doors on the side opposite its entrances into the Great Hall, which led, respectively, to the buttery, kitchen, andpantry, each of which formed separate household departments.^{[citation needed]}

In a large house, the buttery's principal function was storage of wine and its preparation for serving.Candles were also dispensed from the buttery, as wasbeer, to those lower members of the household not entitled to drinkwine.^[1] Today in colleges inCambridge, Dublin, and Oxford, drinks are served from the "Buttery Bar".^[2] The buttery generally had a staircase to the beer cellar below.^[3] The wine-storage area of the buttery, in keeping with the higher value of its contents, was often more richly decorated to reflect the higher status of its function.^[4]

Later the monk butterer became the smartly suited "butler" that we know today^{[citation needed]}, the household officer in charge of the buttery, and possibly also its provisioner (i.e., the sourcing and purchasing of wine). In the royal household the "Marshal of the Buttery" was often a post discharged under thefeudal land tenure ofgrand serjeanty.^[5] In less important households such an officer was termed theyeoman of the buttery.^{[citation needed]} Later, as household staff in the great houses became reduced, the butler also became required to personally serve wine to his lord and guests at banquets.

From the mid-17th century, as it became the custom forservants and their offices to be less conspicuous and sited far from the principal reception rooms, the Great Hall and its neighbouring buttery and pantry lost their original uses. While the Great Hall often became a grand staircase hall or large reception hall (as atPowderham Castle in Devon),^{[citation needed]} the smaller buttery and pantry beyond the screens passage were often amalgamated to form a further reception or dining room.^{[citation needed]}

MostOxford andCambridge colleges,University College andTrevelyan College,Durham,King's College London, theUniversity of Bristol andTrinity College, Dublin call their eating places butteries to this day, as do a few schools in theUnited Kingdom. The communal kitchens/dining rooms inGoodenough College, a postgraduate student residence hall incentral London are called butteries, one example being "the Princess Alice Buttery" in William Goodenough House.

The residential colleges ofYale also refer to theirsnack bars by this name.Trinity College at theUniversity of Toronto also uses the name to refer to its cafeteria located in the Larkin building. Bruce Hall at theAustralian National University also maintains a buttery, which is an informal canteen and bar. The Bar of the Junior Common Room at Trinity College, The University of Melbourne, is known as The Buttery.St. John's College, University of Manitoba refers to the dining area in its residence hall as The Buttery.

• Girouard, Mark (1978).Life in the English Country House. Yale University Press.ISBN 0-300-02273-5.