cakes and ale

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English

WOTD – 26 December 2021

Etymology

From William Shakespeare’s play Twelfth Night (written c. 1601–1602), Act II, scene iii: see the quotation.[1]

Pronunciation

Noun

cakes and ale pl (plural only) (idiomatic, British, dated)

  1. The simple material pleasures of life.
    • 1857 May, “ Ivors. By the Author of ‘Amy Herbert,’ ‘Cleve Hall,’ &c. In Two Volumes. Second Edition. New York, D. Appleton and Company. 1857.”, in Henry N Hudson, editor, The American Church Monthly, volume 1, number 5, New York, N.Y.: Edward P. Allen, , →OCLC, page 389:
      To furnish the cakes and ale of the mind, is, we take it, the proper virtue of novels. It is for mental delight and recreation that we resort to them.
  2. Lively fun and merrymaking.

Translations

See also

References

  1. ^ “cakes and ale, n.” under “cake, n. and adj.”, in OED Online Paid subscription required⁠, Oxford: Oxford University Press, September 2021; “cakes and ale, phrase”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
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