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Glite Dictionary
🏍️ A passenger cart 🍸 A brandy drink 💻 A helper program
sidecar

sidecar

3 7.3
A cocktail made with brandy, orange liqueur and lemon juice
  • noun
  • /ˈsaɪdˌkɑr/
translation icon : sidecar
  • The bartender recommended a sidecar, claiming it was his best cocktail.
  • a citrus sidecar

Examples

  • I prefer a bourbon sidecar rather than a traditional one made with bourbon, so I looked up the recipe in the handy dandy bartending book called "Bartending for Dummies."

    Blog text (2)

  • Shannon knows I need sympathy, so she provides it the way she knows how, which is to take me to a piano bar on Capitol Hill, across the street from a boarded-up lesbian bar, and treat me to one round of my favorite drink (sidecar) and interrupt our conversation every time her cell phone rings.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • But I love a sidecar.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • I'm not supposed to drink, but I love a sidecar.

    The Bonfire of the Vanities (1990)

  • White Lady, Sidecar, Mainbrace or Between the Sheets?

    Evil Under the Sun (1982)

  • Thanks for the sidecar.

    Camille (2008)

  • It tasted like a summer version of the Sidecar, which was nice on this rainy L.A. evening.

    Blog text (10)

  • I order a sidecar, Frannie's old drink, from the bartender and hoist it in the air.

    Fiction book (2001)

  • In the Washington Post Express today, there was a cute little article on bar carts making a comeback, so I thought I'd try to make myself a sidecar tonight.

    Blog text (2)

  • For the grand finale, Danielle made me a special version of a classic Sidecar, made with fruit and pear-infused cognac.

    Blog text (10)

Surface Forms

sidecar singular
sidecars plural

Morphology

sidecar = side + car (opaque) = side + car

Although formed from 'side' + 'car', the cocktail sense is a conventionalized name that cannot be deduced from the components by standard English compounding rules.

Etymology

Sidecar (the cocktail) takes its name from the small vehicle sidecar; one popular story says it was first given to someone riding home in a sidecar, so the name stuck. A helpful way to remember it is to think of a small, strong drink you might carry in the side seat of a bike.