prawn cocktail
1
2.7
- noun
- /prɔːn ˈkɒk.teɪl/
- Archaic
:
cóctel de gambas
- I will have the prawn cocktail for starters.
Examples
-
Order a prawn cocktail and pretend you're trying to impress me.
-
So one of the things that I like to put in a prawn cocktail is grapes, everybody.
-
Prawn cocktail.
-
"I shall be quietly filling these while everyone else is gorging themselves on prawn cocktail and Diet Coke.
Fiction book (1999) -
She dug deeper with her plastic fork into the plastic flute of her prawn cocktail, the active pink prawns against her active pink chest.
Fiction book (1999) -
Of course, as they run out of 'classics' like beef 'n' onion, and are forced to go for more exotic ones like prawn cocktail, there is a danger the hoi polloi might rumble the game...
Blog text (5) -
I will have the prawn cocktail for starters.
-
The restaurant's prawn cocktail is served with a tangy sauce and fresh lemon.
-
For a light appetizer, I recommend the delicious prawn cocktail with spicy dressing.
Synonyms
52
4.1
A small first course of seafood or fruit often served with a spicy sauce
14
2.3
A cold starter of cooked shrimp served with a spicy sauce
How Fancy
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly composed from 'prawn' (a small edible crustacean) + 'cocktail' in its culinary sense (a seafood/appetizer served with sauce), so a learner who knows both words can infer a starter of prawns with sauce. This culinary usage of 'cocktail' (e.g., cocktail de crevettes/gambas) is common cross-linguistically, supporting immediate comprehension at B1.
Etymology
Prawn cocktail may come from the image of small prawns served in a glass with a spicy sauce, so they looked like a little cocktail to drink. That's why the name now means a cold prawn dish often served as a 'starter'.