tonic water
2
2.5
- noun
- /ˈtɑnɪk ˈwɔtər/
:
agua tónica
- Rum, tonic water and a slice of lime, right?
- tonic water with lime
- tonic water with a squeeze
- bottle of tonic water
Yet we, you know, love tonic water.
- Yet we, you know, love tonic water.
Examples
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Dry tonic water bottles surrounded the edge of the sink, while a mint plant in a terra-cotta pot waited on the floor by the dishwasher.
Fiction book (2002) -
It's tonic water.
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- I want a vodka, with tonic water.
-
I'll have a bottle of tonic water.
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I switched you from tonic water to Slice.
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Tonic water and lime, please?
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"I want some tonic water, Mrs. Ishak."
Fiction book (1990) -
I think I've earned a tonic water.
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They send some tonic water, some fizzy watermelon soda.
-
I'll have a tonic water with a squeeze of lime, please.
Synonyms
49
4.4
A bitter fizzy drink used as a mixer with gin
A fizzy bitter soft drink flavored with quinine and lime
How Flavorful
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: 'tonic' (a quinine-flavored mixer) modifies 'water', so the phrase denotes a specific kind of water used as a mixer. This straightforward modifier+noun formation is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituents will readily infer the meaning.
Etymology
Tonic water comes from an old 'medicine' habit. British soldiers mixed bitter tonic, which had quinine, with fizzy water and sugar to make it drinkable, and that 'medicine' drink became the fizzy, bitter mixer we call tonic water today.