junket

WOTD - 28 September 2010    

English

Etymology

Origin uncertain.

Pronunciation

• (UK, US) IPA: /ˈdʒʌŋkɪt/

• Audio (US)

  (file)

• Rhymes: -ʌŋkɪt

Noun

junket (plural junkets)

1. (obsolete) A basket.
2. A type of cream cheese, originally made in a rush basket; later, a food made of sweetened curds or rennet.
   • 1818, John Keats, "Where be ye going, you Devon maid?":

     I love your meads, and I love your flowers, / And I love your junkets mainly [...].

3. A feast or banquet.
   • 1790, Ambrose Philips, The free-thinker, Vol III. No 124., page 95

     Conversation is the natural Junket of the Mind ; and most Men have an Appetite to it, once in the day at least [...].

4. A pleasure-trip; a journey made for feasting or enjoyment, now especially a trip made ostensibly for business but which entails merrymaking or entertainment.
5. (gaming) 20-40 table gaming rooms for which the capacity and limits change daily. Junket rooms are often rented out to private vendors who run tour groups through them and give a portion of the proceeds to the main casino.

Translations

dessert

Finnish: vanukas (fi)

French: caillé (fr), fromage blanc (fr)

feast or banquet

pleasure trip

Finnish: huviretki (fi) French: ballade (fr), virée (fr), excursion (fr) , troisième mi-temps (fr) (colloquial) Italian: gita (it), passeggiata (it)

Russian: приятная поездка (ru), увеселительная поездка за казённый счёт (ru) Spanish: vuelta (es), garbeo (es)

gaming room

Verb

junket (third-person singular simple present junkets, present participle junketing, simple past and past participle junketed)

1. To go on or attend a junket.

Translations

to go on or attend a junket

Russian: пировать (ru), веселиться (ru), устраивать праздник (ru), совершить приятную прогулку (ru)