cocktail

See also: Cocktail

English

Etymology

Unknown; many unproven stories exist. The word first appeared in 1806 (see citation below).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɒkteɪl/

• Audio (AU)

  (file)

Noun

cocktail (plural cocktails)

1. A mixed alcoholic beverage.
   • 1806 May 6, “Rum! Rum! Rum!”, in Balance and Columbian Repository‎^[1], volume v, number 18, New York: Hudson, page 142:

     [...] a certain candidate has placed in his account of Loss and Gain, the following items:-- LOSS [...] 411 glasses bitters[,] 25 do. cock-tail

   • 1806 May 13, “Communication”, in Balance and Columbian Repository‎^[2], volume v, number 19, New York: Hudson, page 146:

     Cock tail, then, is a stimulating liquor, composed of spirits of any kind, sugar, water, and bitters — it is vulgarly called bittered sling, and is supposed to be an excellent electioneering potion, inasmuch as it renders the heart stout and bold, at the same time that it fuddles the head.

   • 1904, Charlotte Bryson Taylor, “Chapter VI”, in In the Dwellings of the Wilderness:

     Deane opened the fray by declaring, à propos of dinners, that the only proper way to create a cocktail of the genus Martini was to add a half-spoonful of sherry after the other ingredients had been satisfactorily mixed, if at all.

   • 1922, Sinclair Lewis, “Chapter 8”, in Babbitt:

     He moved majestically down to mix the cocktails. As he chipped ice, as he squeezed oranges, as he collected vast stores of bottles, glasses, and spoons at the sink in the pantry, he felt as authoritative as the bartender at Healey Hanson's saloon.

   • 2011, Mark Polonsky; et al, USSR: From an Original Idea by Karl Marx, page 32:

     The cocktail in Britain is a rigidly-defined social institution: each has its own particular meaning—the G & T is the alcoholic equivalent of the interview suit; Pernod and black is an alternative to glue sniffing for repentant trendies, etc.

   Synonyms: mixed drink, (abbreviation) ckt

   They visited a bar noted for its wide range of cocktails.

2. (by extension) A mixture of other substances or things.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:hodgepodge

   Scientists found a cocktail of pollutants in the river downstream from the chemical factory.

   a cocktail of illegal drugs

   • 2013, Andrew Farmer, Managing Environmental Pollution, Routledge, →ISBN, page 22:

     Motor vehicles, for example, emit a cocktail of nitrogen oxides, carbon monoxide, volatile organic compounds, particulates, heavy metals and (for diesel) sulphur dioxide.

   • 2023 March 8, David Clough, “The long road that led to Beeching”, in RAIL, page 38:

     Terry Gourvish, the lead author if the authorised commercial history of BR, described the new BTC structure thus: "The conclusion must be that the combination of a few undynamic railwaymen, underpaid full-timers (Commission and General Staff) and poorly-paid part-time businessmen was not a very potent managerial cocktail."

3. A horse, not of pure breed, but having only one eighth or one sixteenth impure blood in its veins.
   • 1868, Charles Darwin, The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication, volume ii, John Murray, page 11:

     A “cock-tail” is a horse not purely bred, but with only one-eighth or one-sixteenth impure blood in his veins

4. (UK, slang, dated) A mean, half-hearted fellow.

   Synonym: coward

   • 1854, Arthur Pendennis [pseudonym; William Makepeace Thackeray], The Newcomes: Memoirs of a Most Respectable Family, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], →OCLC:

     It was in the second affair that poor little Barney showed he was a cocktail.

5. A species of rove beetle, so called from its habit of elevating the tail.

Derived terms

• AIDS cocktail
• atom cocktail
• atomic cocktail
• Brompton cocktail
• cocktail bar
• cocktail cabinet
• cocktail dress
• cocktail flu
• cocktail fork
• cocktail frank, cocktail frankfurter
• cocktail frock
• cocktail game
• cocktail hat
• cocktailing
• cocktail length
• cocktail lounge
• cocktail music
• cocktail onion
• cocktail party
• cocktail party effect
• cocktail party graph
• cocktail peanut
• cocktail sandwich
• cocktail sauce
• cocktail sausage
• cocktail sav, cocktail savaloy
• cocktail shaker
• cocktail stick
• cocktail table
• cocktail waitress
• colonic cocktail
• currency cocktail
• Darvon cocktail
• fruit cocktail
• kiddie cocktail
• molotov cocktail
• Molotov cocktail
• Myers' cocktail
• prawn cocktail
• prawn cocktail offensive
• scintillation cocktail

 

Descendants

• → Catalan: còctel
• → Czech: koktejl
• → Dutch: cocktail
• → Esperanto: koktelo
• → Finnish: cocktail
• → French: cocktail
• → Galician: cóctel
• → German: Cocktail
• → Greek: κοκτέιλ (koktéil)
• → Hungarian: koktél
• → Italian: cocktail
• → Japanese: カクテル (kakuteru)
• → Korean: 칵테일 (kakteil)
• → Norwegian Bokmål: cocktail
• → Norwegian Nynorsk: cocktail
• → Polish: koktajl
• → Portuguese: coquetel
• → Russian: кокте́йль (koktéjlʹ) (see there for further descendants)
• → Spanish: cóctel, coctel
• → Swedish: cocktail
• → Thai: ค็อกเทล (kɔ́k-teel)
• → Turkish: kokteyl
• → Vietnamese: cocktail

Translations

alcoholic beverage

• Afrikaans: mengeldrankie, skemerkelkie
• Albanian: koktej (sq) m
• Arabic: كُوكْتَيْل‎ m (kuktayl), كُوكْتِيل‎ m (kokteyl)
• Armenian: կոկտեյլ (hy) (kokteyl)
• Azerbaijani: kokteyl
• Belarusian: кактэ́йль (be) m (kaktéjlʹ)
• Bulgarian: кокте́йл m (koktéjl)
• Burmese: ကော့တေး (kau.te:)
• Catalan: còctel (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Cantonese: 雞尾酒／鸡尾酒 (gai¹ mei⁵ zau²), 咯嗲 (gok¹ de¹)

  Mandarin: 雞尾酒／鸡尾酒 (zh) (jīwěijiǔ)

  Min Nan: 雞尾酒／鸡尾酒 (ke-bóe-chiú, koe-bé-chiú)

• Czech: koktejl (cs) m
• Danish: cocktail c
• Dutch: cocktail (nl) m
• Erzya: атякшбуло (aťakšbulo)
• Esperanto: koktelo
• Estonian: kokteil
• Finnish: cocktail (fi), drinkki (fi), kimara (fi)
• French: cocktail (fr) m
• Galician: cóctel m
• Georgian: კოქტეილი (ḳokṭeili)
• German: Cocktail (de) n
• Greek: κοκτέιλ (el) n (koktéil)
• Hebrew: קוֹקְטֵיל \ קוקטייל‎ (he) m (koktéyl)
• Hindi: कॉकटेल m (kŏkṭel)
• Hungarian: koktél (hu)
• Icelandic: hanastél (is) n, kokkteill m
• Ido: cocktail (io), koktelo
• Indonesian: koktail (id)
• Italian: cocktail (it) m
• Japanese: カクテル (ja) (kakuteru)
• Kazakh: коктейль (kokteil)
• Khmer: ស្រាក្រឡុក (sraa krɑlok)
• Korean: 칵테일 (ko) (kakteil)
• Kyrgyz: коктейль (ky) (kokteylʹ)
• Lao: ຄັອກເທນ (khǫk thēn)
• Latvian: kokteilis m
• Lithuanian: kokteilis m
• Macedonian: коктел m (koktel)
• Malay: koktel
• Marathi: कॉक्टेल m (kŏkṭel)
• Mongolian:

  Cyrillic: коктэйл (koktejl)

• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: cocktail m

  Nynorsk: cocktail m

• Persian: کوکتل‎ (fa) (koktel)
• Polish: koktajl (pl) m
• Portuguese: coquetel (pt) m
• Romanian: cocteil (ro) n, cocktail n
• Russian: кокте́йль (ru) m (koktɛ́jlʹ), кокте́ль m (koktɛ́lʹ) (common misspelling)
• Serbo-Croatian:

  Cyrillic: ко̀ктел m

  Roman: kòktel (sh) m

• Slovak: koktail m, kokteil m
• Slovene: koktejl m, koktajl m, cocktail m
• Spanish: cóctel (es) m, coctel (es) m
• Swedish: cocktail (sv) c
• Tagalog: koktel, kaktel
• Tajik: коктейль (tg) (kokteyl'), коктейл (kokteyl)
• Thai: ค็อกเทล (th) (kɔ́k-teel)
• Turkish: kokteyl (tr)
• Turkmen: kokteýl
• Ukrainian: кокте́йль m (koktéjlʹ)
• Urdu: کاک ٹیل‎ m (kāk-ṭel)
• Uzbek: kokteyl (uz)
• Vietnamese: cốc-tai
• Yiddish: קאָקטייל‎ (kokteyl)

mixture of other substances

• Catalan: còctel (ca) m
• Chinese:

  Mandarin: please add this translation if you can

• Danish: cocktail c
• Finnish: sekoitus (fi), seos (fi)
• Norwegian:

  Bokmål: cocktail m

  Nynorsk: cocktail m

• Turkish: kokteyl (tr)

Adjective

cocktail (comparative more cocktail, superlative most cocktail)

1. (obsolete) Ostentatiously lacking in manners.
   • 1830, Sporting Magazine:

     It looks very cocktail to be seen riding through the streets of London in a scarlet coat ;

   • 1840, The Sporting magazine:

     The Prince had nothing particular about him but a monstrous smart whip with a gold stag for a handle, which was pronounced a very cocktail looking instrument by the Leicestershire farmers, with whom His Serene Highness is no favorite

   • 2008, Christine Kelly, Mrs Duberly's War: Journal and Letters from the Crimea, 1854-6, →ISBN:

     She always goes about with a brace of loaded revolvers in her belt!! Very cocktail and no occasion for it

Verb

cocktail (third-person singular simple present cocktails, present participle cocktailing, simple past and past participle cocktailed)

1. (transitive) To adulterate (fuel, etc.) by mixing in other substances.
2. (transitive) To treat (a person) to cocktails.

   He dined and cocktailed her at the most exclusive bars and restaurants.

See also

• swizzle
• See also Thesaurus:alcoholic beverage

References

• Michael Quinion (2004), “Cocktail”, in Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds: Ingenious Tales of Words and Their Origins, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books in association with Penguin Books, →ISBN.

Dutch

Etymology

Borrowed from English cocktail, which is of unclear origin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɔkteːl/

• Audio

  (file)

• Hyphenation: cock‧tail

Noun

cocktail m (plural cocktails, diminutive cocktailtje n)

1. cocktail

Derived terms

• cocktailbar
• cocktailjurk
• cocktailparty
• cocktailsaus
• molotovcocktail

Finnish

Alternative forms

• koktaili

Etymology

Borrowed from English cocktail, which is of unclear origin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkoktɑi̯l/, [ˈko̞kt̪ɑ̝i̯l]
• IPA^(key): /ˈkoktei̯l/, [ˈko̞kt̪e̞i̯l]
• Syllabification^(key): cock‧tail

Noun

cocktail

1. cocktail (mixed drink)

Declension

Inflection of cocktail (Kotus type 5/risti, no gradation)
nominative		cocktail	cocktailit
genitive		cocktailin	cocktailien
partitive		cocktailia	cocktaileja
illative		cocktailiin	cocktaileihin
		singular	plural
nominative		cocktail	cocktailit
accusative	nom.	cocktail	cocktailit
	gen.	cocktailin
genitive		cocktailin	cocktailien
partitive		cocktailia	cocktaileja
inessive		cocktailissa	cocktaileissa
elative		cocktailista	cocktaileista
illative		cocktailiin	cocktaileihin
adessive		cocktaililla	cocktaileilla
ablative		cocktaililta	cocktaileilta
allative		cocktailille	cocktaileille
essive		cocktailina	cocktaileina
translative		cocktailiksi	cocktaileiksi
instructive		—	cocktailein
abessive		cocktailitta	cocktaileitta
comitative		See the possessive forms below.

Possessive forms of cocktail (type risti)

first-person singular possessor singular plural nominative cocktailini cocktailini accusative nom. cocktailini cocktailini gen. cocktailini genitive cocktailini cocktailieni partitive cocktailiani cocktailejani inessive cocktailissani cocktaileissani elative cocktailistani cocktaileistani illative cocktailiini cocktaileihini adessive cocktailillani cocktaileillani ablative cocktaililtani cocktaileiltani allative cocktaililleni cocktaileilleni essive cocktailinani cocktaileinani translative cocktailikseni cocktaileikseni instructive — — abessive cocktailittani cocktaileittani comitative — cocktaileineni second-person singular possessor singular plural nominative cocktailisi cocktailisi accusative nom. cocktailisi cocktailisi gen. cocktailisi genitive cocktailisi cocktailiesi partitive cocktailiasi cocktailejasi inessive cocktailissasi cocktaileissasi elative cocktailistasi cocktaileistasi illative cocktailiisi cocktaileihisi adessive cocktailillasi cocktaileillasi ablative cocktaililtasi cocktaileiltasi allative cocktailillesi cocktaileillesi essive cocktailinasi cocktaileinasi translative cocktailiksesi cocktaileiksesi instructive — — abessive cocktailittasi cocktaileittasi comitative — cocktaileinesi first-person plural possessor singular plural nominative cocktailimme cocktailimme accusative nom. cocktailimme cocktailimme gen. cocktailimme genitive cocktailimme cocktailiemme partitive cocktailiamme cocktailejamme inessive cocktailissamme cocktaileissamme elative cocktailistamme cocktaileistamme illative cocktailiimme cocktaileihimme adessive cocktailillamme cocktaileillamme ablative cocktaililtamme cocktaileiltamme allative cocktailillemme cocktaileillemme essive cocktailinamme cocktaileinamme translative cocktailiksemme cocktaileiksemme instructive — — abessive cocktailittamme cocktaileittamme comitative — cocktaileinemme second-person plural possessor singular plural nominative cocktailinne cocktailinne accusative nom. cocktailinne cocktailinne gen. cocktailinne genitive cocktailinne cocktailienne partitive cocktailianne cocktailejanne inessive cocktailissanne cocktaileissanne elative cocktailistanne cocktaileistanne illative cocktailiinne cocktaileihinne adessive cocktailillanne cocktaileillanne ablative cocktaililtanne cocktaileiltanne allative cocktailillenne cocktaileillenne essive cocktailinanne cocktaileinanne translative cocktailiksenne cocktaileiksenne instructive — — abessive cocktailittanne cocktaileittanne comitative — cocktaileinenne third-person possessor singular plural nominative cocktailinsa cocktailinsa accusative nom. cocktailinsa cocktailinsa gen. cocktailinsa genitive cocktailinsa cocktailiensa partitive cocktailiaan cocktailiansa cocktailejaan cocktailejansa inessive cocktailissaan cocktailissansa cocktaileissaan cocktaileissansa elative cocktailistaan cocktailistansa cocktaileistaan cocktaileistansa illative cocktailiinsa cocktaileihinsa adessive cocktailillaan cocktailillansa cocktaileillaan cocktaileillansa ablative cocktaililtaan cocktaililtansa cocktaileiltaan cocktaileiltansa allative cocktaililleen cocktailillensa cocktaileilleen cocktaileillensa essive cocktailinaan cocktailinansa cocktaileinaan cocktaileinansa translative cocktailikseen cocktailiksensa cocktaileikseen cocktaileiksensa instructive — — abessive cocktailittaan cocktailittansa cocktaileittaan cocktaileittansa comitative — cocktaileineen cocktaileinensa

Synonyms

• juomasekoitus
• kimara

French

Etymology

Borrowed from English cocktail, which is of unclear origin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /kɔk.tɛl/

• Audio

  (file)

Noun

cocktail m (plural cocktails)

1. cocktail
2. (metonymically) cocktail party

Derived terms

• cocktail de crevettes
• cocktail Molotov

Further reading

• “cocktail”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.

Italian

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English cocktail, which is of unclear origin.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɔk.tel/
• Rhymes: -ɔktel

Noun

cocktail m (invariable)

1. cocktail
2. cocktail party

Norwegian Bokmål

Etymology

From English cocktail.

Noun

cocktail m (definite singular cocktailen, indefinite plural cocktailer, definite plural cocktailene)

1. cocktail

References

• “cocktail” in The Bokmål Dictionary.

Norwegian Nynorsk

Etymology

From English cocktail.

Noun

cocktail m (definite singular cocktailen, indefinite plural cocktailar, definite plural cocktailane)

1. cocktail

References

• “cocktail” in The Nynorsk Dictionary.

Romanian

Alternative forms

• cocteil

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English cocktail or French cocktail.

Noun

cocktail n (plural cocktailuri)

1. cocktail

Declension

Declension of cocktail

	singular		plural
	indefinite articulation	definite articulation	indefinite articulation	definite articulation
nominative/accusative	(un) cocktail	cocktailul	(niște) cocktailuri	cocktailurile
genitive/dative	(unui) cocktail	cocktailului	(unor) cocktailuri	cocktailurilor
vocative	cocktailule		cocktailurilor

Spanish

Noun

cocktail m (plural cocktails or cocktail)

1. Alternative spelling of cóctel

Swedish

Etymology

Unadapted borrowing from English cocktail, which is of unclear origin.

Noun

cocktail c

1. cocktail

Declension

Declension of cocktail
	Singular		Plural
	Indefinite	Definite	Indefinite	Definite
Nominative	cocktail	cocktailen	cocktailar	cocktailarna
Genitive	cocktails	cocktailens	cocktailars	cocktailarnas

Derived terms

• cocktailparty
• cocktailpåse
• molotovcocktail

Vietnamese

Alternative forms

• cốc tay

Etymology

From English cocktail, which is of unclear origin.

Pronunciation

• (Hà Nội) IPA^(key): [kok̚˧˦ taːj˧˧]
• (Huế) IPA^(key): [kok̚˦˧˥ taːj˧˧]
• (Hồ Chí Minh City) IPA^(key): [kok̚˦˥ taːj˧˧]
• Phonetic: côốc tai

Noun

cocktail

1. cocktail

See also

• rượu cốctay