gravy

CEFRB1

/ˈɡɹeɪvi/

noun

Türkçe translations

Translating…

In plain English

  1. 01

    noun

    A sauce made from meat juices, often served with meals.

  2. 02

    noun

    Extra detail

    Sauce used for pasta.

Examples

  • I don't eat meat, shellfish, poultry or gravy.

  • Would you like some more gravy?

At a glance

Sits at B1 on the CEFR scale

Senses
5
Parts of speech
1
Citations
5

Also pronounced

  • /-vɪ/
  • /ˈɡɹæɪvi/

Deep Dive

noun

Extra meanings

  1. A thick sauce made from the fat or juices that come out from meat or vegetables as they are being cooked.

  2. A dark savoury sauce prepared from stock and usually meat juices; brown gravy.

  3. A pale sauce prepared from a roux with meat fat; a type of béchamel sauce.

More examples

In context

  • A roast dinner isn't complete without gravy.

  • There are few foods more Southern than biscuits and gravy.

  • Everything else is gravy.

Quick test

Two questions on this entry. Nothing is scored.

Question 1 · Quick check

He poured a rich brown blank over the mashed potatoes to add flavor.

Practise this properly in the app, where the word comes back before you forget it.

Nearby

Origin

noun

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).