Gravy Meaning
/ˈɡɹeɪvi/Definition, CEFR level B1, pronunciation, examples, and quiz.
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Definition
nounA thick sauce made from the fat or juices that come out from meat or vegetables as they are being cooked.
nounA thick sauce made from the fat or juices that come out from meat or vegetables as they are being cooked., A dark savoury sauce prepared from stock and usually meat juices; brown gravy.
Sentence Examples
Would you like some more gravy?
Everything else is gravy.
I don't eat meat, shellfish, poultry or gravy.
CEFR Practice Quiz
He poured a rich brown ____ over the mashed potatoes to add flavor.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The chef served a rich brown ____ with the roasted turkey and the fluffy mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving.
Word Origin & History
From Middle English gravey, greavie, gravy; probably from greaves, graves (“the sediment of melted tallow”), or from Old French grave, a claimed misspelling of grané (“stew, spice”), from grain (“spice”). Sense of "pasta sauce" apparently seems to be from Italian dialect, especially Calabrian, differentiating tomato puree (salsa (“sauce”)) from cooked tomato sauce (sugo).
Literary Quotations & Historical Citations
"With this the hostess poured two or three spoonfuls of the gravy of the curry on to the rice opposite to each person."
— 1879, The Sunday at Home, volume 26, page 342:
"This is strained with a piece of cloth or a strainer and the green liquid forms the gravy of the curry."
— 1992, Khammān Khonkhai, The Teachers of Mad Dog Swamp:
"Return flaked fish to curry gravy and bring to the boil."
— 2007, Geok Boi Lee, Classic Asian Noodles, Marshall Cavendish, →ISBN, page 158:
"I mean simply this — that the process of canning and preserving or of gravying and saucing frequently removes the most vitally essential acids and salts […]"
— 1907, Edmond Raymond Moras, Autology (Study Thyself) and Autopathy (Cure Thyself), page 67:
"Dola and another woman were so busy frying and grilling and buttering and gravying that they didn't even notice Bruce's existence."
— 2013, Ivan Doig, Bucking the Sun, page 103:
Explore More B1 Vocabulary Words
CEFR Practice Quiz
He poured a rich brown ____ over the mashed potatoes to add flavor.
CEFR Practice Quiz (Alternate)
The chef served a rich brown ____ with the roasted turkey and the fluffy mashed potatoes on Thanksgiving.