Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A brandy distilled from white wine and produced in the vicinity of Cognac.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun Properly, a French brandy of superior quality distilled from wines produced in the neighborhood of Cognac in the department of Charente, France; more loosely, any of the brandies of that department.
  • noun In Europe, any brandy of good quality (this name having superseded the original terms eau-de-vie, branntwein, etc.); in the United States, French brandy in general. See champagne.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A kind of French brandy, so called from the town of Cognac.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun a brandy distilled from white wine in the region around Cognac in France

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun high quality grape brandy distilled in the Cognac district of France

Etymologies

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

French cognac, from Cognac, a city in France, from Medieval Latin Comniacum, from the name Cominius + Gallo-Roman suffix -acum.

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Examples

  • Port wine, a Galician tostado, a sweet Monastrell, a fortified Tannat, a German Riesling Kabinett or Spatslese, or most beautifully an aged rum or cognac (cognac is wine at is origin).

    Christmas fruitcake: impossible food-wine pairing?!? | Dr Vino's wine blog 2009

  • Boucherie cooks up tripe stew ($6) and sauteed kidneys in cognac cream ($8.50), blood sausage ($13) and grilled mixed skewers that included, if my memory serves me right, lamb hearts, kidneys, and testicles ($8).

    Vashon Farmers Market and La Boucherie 2009

  • Both were made of the flames of the French spirit called cognac, or brandy.

    The Dew of Their Youth 1887

  • It was a cupboard, plentifully filled with bottles of various descriptions, from among which, by her patient's direction, she selected one labelled cognac, and gave him some in water.

    A Crooked Path A Novel Mrs. Alexander 1863

  • The concept car - in a rich reddish brown dubbed "cognac" - has cream leather seats perforated into a pattern that's meant to resemble champagne bubbles.

    The Seattle Times 2012

  • Sitting at his booth at a small desk displaying coffee, pasta, snacks and – pride of place – bottles of Barbancourt rum, described as the "cognac of rums", Avril said the conference was much better than he had expected.

    Least developed countries: Furious networking brings results | Mark Tran 2011

  • He also recently established his own liquor brand, Conjure cognac, which is currently available in the Atlanta and Miami markets.

    BN - Broadcast Newsroom-news 2010

  • The cognac is a testimony to Jean Martell whose founding principles are based on the pursuit of perfection.

    Born Rich 2009

  • Hennessy is a brand of cognac, which is a French variety of brandy.

    Yahoo! Sports - Top News 2009

  • Hennessy is a brand of cognac, which is a French variety of brandy.

    Yahoo! Sports - Top News 2009

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