White Russian
1
4.4
- noun
- /ˈwaɪt ˈrʌʃən/
:
White Russian
- She enjoys drinking White Russians, and so do I.
- drinking a White Russian
And my grandmother, God rest her soul, she goes, Nicholas, can you make me a White Russian?
- And my grandmother, God rest her soul, she goes, Nicholas, can you make me a White Russian?
Examples
-
He takes a sip of a freshly mixed White Russian, which leaves milk on his mustache.
Fiction book (1998) -
I made myself a White Russian last night before going into the study.
Blog text (8) -
An hour later I'm sitting in the bar with a White Russian in my hand.
-
The Dude, Walter, and Donny sit at the bar, the Dude with a White Russian, Walter with a beer, and Donny eating beer nuts.
Fiction book (1998) -
The Dude sits in back holding a White Russian, listening to the chauffeur, a man of about the same age from whose livery cap a ponytail emerges.
Fiction book (1998) -
Can I get a White Russian and a beer, please?
-
I made myself a White Russian last night before going into the study.
Surface Forms
Morphology
White + Russian
This is a conventional name for a specific cocktail rather than a compositional phrase whose meaning follows from 'white' and 'Russian'. A B1 learner who knows the words 'white' and 'Russian' would not reliably infer a drink made of vodka, coffee liqueur, and cream; the link is cultural/proper-name based and not predictably derivable from the constituents.
Etymology
White Russian is a cocktail named because it mixes 'vodka' with cream, so the drink looks white. It grew from the older 'Black Russian', so the word Russian points to its use of vodka.