Definition of "margarine" []

• A fatty solid butter substitute consisting of a blend of hydrogenated vegetable oils mixed with emulsifiers, vitamins, coloring matter, and other ingredients. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "The term margarine may have been coined by Hippolyte Mège-Mouries but, it may have taken him quite a bit longer to concoct his invention if it hadn't been for the isolation process of fatty acids by Michel Eugène Chevreul, a true innovator in his own right who is credited with many chemical discoveries."
• "Butter producers objected and by virtue of the Margarine Act of 1886, the term margarine became the official "legal" term rather than butterine."
• "“Oleo,” from the Latin oleum oil, was attached as a prefix to the word margarine and was commonly part of the name until after World War II."