Swedish meatball
4
2.0
- noun
- /ˈswidɪʃ ˈmiːtbɔːl/
:
albóndiga sueca
- For lunch, he offered us Swedish meatballs served with a creamy sauce and lingonberry jam.
- make Swedish meatballs
Examples
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When Leila pulled out a dusty cookbook of my mother's, the book opened to a recipe for "Zesty Swedish Meatballs."
Fiction book (1999) -
For herself, she bought Swedish meatballs, an apple crumb cake, and a glass of milk; she got a salad with low-fat cottage cheese and a Diet Coke for him.
Fiction book (1998) -
See, my mom made Swedish meatballs for dinner.
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I made Swedish meatballs, your favorite.
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Nobody makes Swedish meatballs like you, babe.
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I made some Swedish meatballs to nibble on.
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Here I am slaving away over a hot stove, making cookies, making Swedish meatballs, and for what?
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Nonetheless, later at the reception, no one touched the Swedish meatballs or the rumaki.
Fiction book (1992) -
Oh, did I mention I am going with a hunky guy I lured with the promise of Swedish meatballs?
Blog text (23) -
So she comforted her supporters last night at her New Hampshire party by serving Swedish meatballs and brisket.
Synonyms
103
1.0
A small ball of ground meat that is mixed with other ingredients and cooked
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is directly compositional: 'Swedish' specifies origin and 'meatball' names the food item, so the meaning 'a meatball from Sweden / a Swedish-style meatball' is immediately derivable from the parts. This country + food pattern is common cross-linguistically, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will understand the MWE even if they lack culinary details.
Etymology
The name Swedish meatball may come from one popular story that King Charles XII brought back a way of making small spiced balls of meat to Sweden. Because people there cooked these little meat balls in a creamy sauce and served them with jam, the name now means 'a small ball of meat with spices made in the Swedish style'.