cocktails
Out of context: Reply #2
- Started
- Last post
- 5 Responses
- Crouwel0
cocktail |?käk?t?l| noun 1 an alcoholic drink consisting of a spirit or several spirits mixed with other ingredients, such as fruit juice, lemonade, or cream : [as adj. ] cocktail parties | a cocktail bar. • a mixture of substances or factors, esp. when dangerous or unpleasant in its effects : financial pressure plus isolation can be a deadly cocktail for some people | a cocktail of drugs that inhibits replication of HIV. 2 a dish consisting of small pieces of seafood or fruits, typically served cold at the beginning of a meal as an hors d'oeuvre : a shrimp cocktail. ORIGIN early 17th cent.: from cock 1 + tail 1 . The original use was as an adjective describing a creature with a tail like that of a cock, specifically a horse with a docked tail; hence (because hunters and coach horses were generally docked) a racehorse that was not a thoroughbred, having a cock-tailed horse in its pedigree (early 19th cent.). Sense 1 (originally U.S., also early 19th cent.) is perhaps analogous, from the idea of an adulterated spirit.