hors d'oeuvre

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See also: hors-d'oeuvre and hors-d'œuvre

English

English Wikipedia has an article on:
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Alternative forms

Etymology

Borrowed from French hors-d’œuvre.

Pronunciation

Noun

hors d'oeuvre (plural hors d'oeuvre or hors d'oeuvres)

  1. (food) A small, light, and usually savory first course in a meal.
  2. (by extension) Anything of secondary concern; not the primary thing.
  3. (dated, rare) Something unusual or extraordinary.

Quotations

  • 1920, G. K. Chesterton, chapter XIII, in The New Jerusalem:
    It seems quaintest of all when, at some Jewish luncheon parties, a tray of hats is actually handed round, and each guest helps himself to a hat as a sort of hors d'oeuvre.
  • 1925, F Scott Fitzgerald, chapter 3, in The Great Gatsby, New York, N.Y.: Charles Scribner’s Sons, published 1953, →ISBN, →OCLC:
    On buffet tables, garnished with glistening hors-d’oeuvre, spiced baked hams crowded against salads of harlequin designs and pastry pigs and turkeys bewitched to a dark gold.

Synonyms

(food):

Translations

The translations below need to be checked and inserted above into the appropriate translation tables. See instructions at Wiktionary:Entry layout § Translations.
Translations to be checked

See also

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 “Meaning of “hors d'oeuvre” in the Cambridge English Dictionary”, in Cambridge Dictionary‎, (Can we date this quote?), archived from the original on 2017-11-24: “UK /ˌɔː ˈdɜːv/ US /ˌɔːr ˈdɝːv/”

French

Etymology

Literally, “apart from the work”, in other words, "apart from the main meal"

Noun

hors d’oeuvre m (plural hors d’oeuvre)

  1. Nonstandard spelling of hors d’œuvre.

Usage notes

  • The œ ligature is often replaced in contemporary French with oe (the œ character does not appear on AZERTY keyboards), but this is nonstandard.
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