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sloe gin

sloe gin

1 8.2
A sweet red alcoholic drink made by soaking small dark fruits from the blackthorn bush in gin
  • noun
  • /sloʊ dʒɪn/
translation icon : licor de endrina
  • She prepared a delicious cocktail using sloe gin and fresh tonic water.
  • sloe gin fizz
  • bottle of sloe gin

Examples

  • She'll have the sloe gin fizz.

  • I'd like a sloe gin fizz, please.

  • Do we even have sloe gin?

    Fiction book (2000)
  • Yeah, we'll have a couple of sloe gin fizzes.

  • I haven't had a taste of that sloe gin of yours this year.

  • Let's go get a sloe gin fizz.

  • Could you give this gentleman a sloe gin fizz?

  • We made it back to camp and celebrated with sloe gin at the enlisted club.

    Fiction book (1990)
  • Okay, two sloe gin fizzes comin' up.

  • To celebrate peace and other more common conditions, the enlisted club announced that drinks were a dime; sloe gin was the pleasure of the warriors that night.

    Fiction book (1990)

Synonyms

blackthorn liqueur
vssloe gin
  • UK
9.5

A strong sweet alcoholic drink made from the blackthorn fruit called sloes

is made by infusing the fruit into a specific distilled spirit not any base

Surface Forms

sloe gin singular
sloe gins plural

Morphology

sloe + gin

The noun compound 'sloe gin' literally denotes gin made with sloes; if a B1 learner knows 'sloe' (a tart dark berry) and 'gin' (a spirit), the meaning is compositionally predictable as gin infused with that fruit. This follows a common modifier+head pattern (fruit + spirit) and is therefore immediately comprehensible from its parts.

Etymology

Sloe gin comes from a simple country recipe: people put the dark berry called a sloe into a bottle of gin, add sugar, and leave it for months so the gin takes the berry's flavour and colour. That's why sloe gin means a 'sweet drink' made by infusing gin with sloes.