Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. Any of various mixed alcoholic drinks consisting usually of brandy, whiskey, vodka, or gin combined with fruit juices or other liquors and often served chilled.
- n. Medicine A mixture of drugs, usually in solution, for the diagnosis or treatment of a condition.
- n. Medicine A treatment regimen that includes a combination of several drugs, so that their combined effect is more potent than that of any of the drugs used individually.
- n. An appetizer made by combining pieces of food, such as fruit or seafood: fruit cocktail; shrimp cocktail.
- adj. Of or relating to cocktails: a cocktail glass; a cocktail party.
- adj. Suitable for wear on semiformal occasions: a cocktail dress.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A bird of the genus Alectrurus.
- n. A name of a European insect, Ocypus or Goërius olens, one of the rove-beetles or Staphylinidæ. Also called devil's coach-horse (which see, under devil).
- n. A horse which is not thoroughbred, but has some impure blood, generally one fourth or less, but sometimes one half; hence, an underbred person.
- n. An American drink, strong, stimulating, and cold, made of spirits, bitters, and a little sugar, with various aromatic and stimulating additions.
- n. Cocktail beer.
Wiktionary
- n. A mixed alcoholic beverage.
- n. A mixture of other substances.
- n. A horse, not of pure breed, but having only one eighth or one sixteenth impure blood in its veins.
- n. UK, slang, dated A mean, half-hearted fellow; a coward.
- n. A species of rove beetle, so called from its habit of elevating the tail.
- adj. festive, lively
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. United States A beverage made of brandy, whisky, or gin, iced, flavored, and sweetened.
- n. (Stock Breeding) A horse, not of pure breed, but having only one eighth or one sixteenth impure blood in his veins.
- n. Slang, Eng. A mean, half-hearted fellow; a coward.
- n. (Zoöl.) A species of rove beetle; -- so called from its habit of elevating the tail.
WordNet 3.0
- n. a short mixed drink
- n. an appetizer served as a first course at a meal
Etymologies
- Unknown, many unproven stories exist. The word first appeared in 1806 (see citation below). The non-drink sense is by extension of the drink sense. (Wiktionary)
- Origin unknown. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“The word cocktail has spawned more mixological inventiveness than any other Global English term.”
“The oldest definition that anyone has found for the term "cocktail" describes a drink with exactly four ingredients: A spirit of course, water, bitters and sugar.”
“The first definition of the term cocktail appeared in a New York newspaper in the late 1800's.”
Minneapolis/St. Paul Breaking News, Weather, Video, Traffic and Sports for Minnesota from WCCO-TV
“Start at what I call the cocktail and hors d'oeuvres section, which is right past the cash registers.”
“To Jerry Shapiro, executive director, "Life and Style Weekly", you are reporting that Michael Jackson was taking what you call a cocktail of drugs.”
“This cocktail is my idea of a tasty retro drink, salty and spicy, just the way I like it.”
“Maybe then what we refer to as cocktail party banter, what we see as obvious and unchangable, would be more widely understood and appreciated.”
“For instance, we were in one of the maximum-security blocks here, where they explained that some of the prisoners throw what they call cocktail number fours on some of the guards, which contains urine, fecal matter, semen and spit.”
“Now, that's what I call a cocktail," said Officer Hogan, as he ordered up (on a complimentary basis) the Havanas.”
“These were dark days in cocktail history to be sure.”
The Huffington Post: Karl Kozel: It's Getting Better All The Time
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘cocktail’.
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Words that are also movies
Unabashedly stolen from a comment made by courier12.
vertigo, serendipity, casablanca, psycho, jaws, fantasia, stagecoach, network, rocky, giant, platoon, unforgiven and 285 more...
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horses
everything horses
horse, bay, bloodhorse, bloodstock, bolter, broncho, bronco, brumby, bucker, buckjumper, cob, cocktail and 200 more...
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Origin unknown
bamboozle, ballyhoo, banter, bludgeon, chad, cocktail, culvert, curmugeon, dildo, dude, dweeb, dyke and 51 more...
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Intertanglement
A list of bejumble and minglement.
intertanglement, mixture, commingle, commixtion, immixture, hodgepodge, hotchpotch, intermixture, medley, minglement, mingle-mangle, blendure and 60 more...
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Wine & Spirits
Vintage, toast, vodka, wine, whisky, beer, port, cocktail, stout, champagne, brandy, rum and 2 more...
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franky's Words
formitastic, human resources, cocktail, gravatar, tequila, twitter, moloko, gmail, beeb, mp3, cover art, thumbnail and 184 more...
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The Sog Collection
My big word list.
chaos, flaccid, empirical, flotsam, cacophony, grumble, assuage, awe, romance, mortality, coalesce, fortuitous and 3282 more...
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kingofbash's Words
bash, poleaxed, salacious, libertine, charlatan, aplomb, fortuitous, finagle, apoplectic, debutante, carte blanche, aardvark and 472 more...
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parody's Words
defenestrate, behemoth, floss, macchiato, glom, emu, alpaca, crocheted, ampersand, charade, conflate, salacious and 193 more...
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Words from "Pearls Before Breakfast"
nondescript, shrewd, seed money, bureaucrat, indeterminate, fungible, cupidity, banal, grandeur, utilitarian, buffer, ecstatic and 123 more...
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Alles ganz verschieden
Listed various words that have come into my mind. Will edit them at some point - honestly.
dog-gold, shoulderlooker, mr. considering, the pigwoman, stevie is waiting, chingwybodganpwy, thelandscapeisstu..., couchsurfing, cappuccinodrinking, meat-eater, posher, mae rhaid i fi fynd and 581 more...
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Annsley's list
churlish, bibulous, salt, salty, conjugal, fabulist, maw, primordial, chimera, emetic, surly, excrescence and 228 more...
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Words suggested in response to Funk's...
In response to Wilfred J. Funk's "ten most beautiful words in the English language" list of 1932.
beer, rum, rye, sauterne, sherry, brandy, bourbon, Scotch, champagne, cocktail, lyric, serenity and 137 more...
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A Dalliance of Dahlias
For more flower fun, see these lists:
Rose words by mollusque
Rose varieties by mollusque
Tulip Names I
Tulip Names II: You Know My Name
A Myriad of Iriia la mode, ace o' hearts, acclimation, adhesion, admirable, adorable you, advance, affirmed, after glow, agricola, alabama melody, alabaster queen and 1152 more...
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Dresses!
maxi, mini, gown, A-line, sheath, cocktail, jumper, sundress, strapless, mermaid, little black dress, shift and 35 more...
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Forks
Only the ones used for eating.
dinner, runcible, crab, salad, beef, meat, olive, fish, knork, oyster, pastry, pickle and 44 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for cocktail.

oroboros Origin first attested 1806; H.L. Mencken lists seven versions of its origin, perhaps the most persuasive is Fr. coquetier "egg-cup." In New Orleans, c.1795, Antoine Amédée Peychaud, an apothecary (and inventor of Peychaud bitters) held Masonic social gatherings at his pharmacy, where he mixed brandy toddies with his own bitters and served them in an egg-cup. The drink took the name of the cup, in Eng. cocktay. Cocktail party first attested 1928. Dec 31, 2007