cocktail
Meanings
Plural: cocktails
Noun
- a short mixed drink
- an appetizer served as a first course at a meal
- A mixed alcoholic beverage.
- A mixture of other substances or things.
- A horse, not of pure breed, but having only one eighth or one sixteenth impure blood in its veins.
- A mean, half-hearted fellow.
- A species of rove beetle, so called from its habit of elevating the tail.
Adj
- Ostentatiously lacking in manners.
Verb
- To adulterate (fuel, etc.) by mixing in other substances.
- To treat (a person) to cocktails.
Origin / Etymology
Early 17th century, from cock (“male bird”) + tail, in the sense “(a horse with its) tail standing up, like a cock’s”. The origin of the extension to “an alcoholic mixed drink” is unknown. One theory is that it refers to a stimulant (gingering), hence a stimulating drink; compare pick-me-up. Another attested use is for non-thoroughbred racehorses: these were considered "cock-tailed" due to their docked tails. This may have led to the term "cocktail" (sense 1) being used for an adulterated spirit.
Synonyms
bouillabaisse, bric-a-brac, catch-all, ckt, clamjamfrey, cocktail, congeries, coward, crazyquilt, disjecta membra, farrago, galimatias, gallimaufry, grab bag, hodgepodge, horse and rabbit stew, hotchpot, hotchpotch, job lot, jumble, macedoine, medley, melange, mingle-mangle, miscellanea, miscellany, mishmash, mixed bag, mixed drink, mixture, motley, oddments, odds and ends, olio, olla podrida, omnium-gatherum, pastiche, patchwork quilt, potpourri, ragbag, salmagundi, slurry, smorgasbord, welter, Whitman's sampler
Scrabble Score: 16
cocktail is a valid Scrabble (US) TWL wordcocktail is a valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
cocktail is a valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary