sweet cider
- noun
- /swit ˈsaɪdər/
- US
:
sidra dulce
- In the refrigerator, sweet cider will keep several weeks before it ferments, but for long-term storage, it must be frozen.
Examples
-
He said nothing at all at first, so I went to the kitchen and returned with a hot mug of sweet cider and a tin of shortbread biscuits.
-
Trees, grass, sweet cider and buttermilk and water from that well that's colder than any other...
-
Every fall, James and Doris use this restored press to make sweet cider from the trees in their apple orchard.
How Sweet
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase is a straightforward adjective + noun composition: 'sweet' (tasting of sugar) modifying 'cider' (an apple beverage) yields a cider that tastes sweet. This compositional meaning is predictable and cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both words will readily understand the MWE (even if some cultural nuance about fermentation/non-alcoholic production requires extra knowledge).
Etymology
The noun sweet cider comes from the simple image of apples being pressed to make fresh, sweet juice. Because this juice was not left to turn into alcohol, it stayed sweet and safe to drink, so sweet cider today means fresh, 'non-alcoholic' apple juice.