Marmite

See also: marmite

A jar of Marmite.

English

Etymology

(deprecated template usage) [etyl] French marmite. The common-noun sense derives from an advertising campaign featuring the slogan "love it or hate it".

Proper noun

Marmite

1. (Commonwealth) A brand of sticky, dark brown, strongly flavoured spread based on a yeast extract (a by-product of beer brewing), eaten on toast, in sandwiches, etc.

Derived terms

• Marmitegate
• Marmitey

Noun

Marmite (countable and uncountable, plural Marmites)

1. (UK, informal) Something which people either love or hate.
   • 2000 May 30, Mike Page, “Re: Milk bar [WAS: Re: Great googly-moogly]”, in alt.usage.english‎^[1] (Usenet):

     A pink gin is prepared by swirling a few drops of bitters round the glass and throwing any excess away. It's the Marmite of the drinking world.

   • 2001 March 6, Mark Blunden, “Re:Another Recipe Request”, in alt.babylon5.uk‎^[2] (Usenet):

     Ah, anchovies - the marmite of the marine world. Personally, I love them, at least on pizzas.

   • 2008, Becky Thorn, “Pies”, in School Dinners: Recipes and Reminiscences of the Good, the Bad and the Spotted Dick‎^[3], Anova Books, →ISBN, page 24:

     I have a feeling that this pie is the Marmite of the school pie world. You either loved it or you hated it.

   • 2008, Tim Bartlett, Simon Collis and Tony Jones, “Design and Construction”, in Complete Powerboating Manual‎^[4], New Holland Publishers, →ISBN, page 164:

     Catamarans are the Marmite of powerboating – you either love them or you hate them.

   • April 16 2009, The Northern Echo - Bobby dazzler

     A LOT of people could ask me that question. It’s a Marmite thing, you either love him or hate him,” admits Consett actor Chris Coxon who is one of the first people on the planet to attempt to become a real-life version of cult animated character Spongebob Squarepants

Verb

1. (transitive) To apply Marmite to.
   • 2009 December 9, John Kelly, “Marmite is more easily digested in book form”, in Washington Post:

     My toast carefully Marmited, I took a bite and immediately felt as if I’d been hit in the face by an ocean wave, a wave befouled by oil from a sinking tanker, oil that had caused a die-off of marine birds and invertebrates, creatures whose decomposing bodies were adding to the general funkiness that had found its way inside my mouth.

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