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 A type of cream cheese, originally made in a rush basket; later, a food made of sweetened curds or rennet.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. (obsolete) A delicacy.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, V.4:

     Goe streight, and take with thee to witnesse it / Sixe of thy fellowes of the best array, / And beare with you both wine and juncates fit, / And bid him eate […].

4. 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 [...].

5. A pleasure-trip; a journey made for feasting or enjoyment, now especially a trip made ostensibly for business but which entails merrymaking or entertainment.
6. (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

• Dutch: platte kaas (nl),
• Finnish: vanukas (fi)

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

feast or banquet

• Dutch: feestmaal (nl), banket (nl),

pleasure trip

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

• Russian: приятная поездка (ru) (prijatnaja pojezdka), увеселительная поездка за казённый счёт (ru) (uveselitelʹnaja pojezdka za kazjónnyj sčót)
• Spanish: vuelta (es), garbeo (es)

gaming room

• Dutch: speelzaal (nl), goktent (nl),

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.
   • South

     Job's children junketed and feasted together often.

Translations

to go on or attend a junket

• Russian: пировать (ru) (pirovatʹ), веселиться (ru) (veselitʹsja), устраивать праздник (ru) (ustraivatʹ prazdnik), совершить приятную прогулку (ru) (soveršitʹ prijatnuju progulku)