Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A frozen dessert similar to a frappé, usually made from fruit juice and having a mushy consistency.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Sherbet; also, water-ice of any kind; especially, a water-ice which is not very hard frozen, so that it remains semi-liquid; also, water-ice flavored with rum, kirschwasser, or the like, as distinguished from that made without spirit.
Wiktionary
- n. Frozen fruit juice, sometimes mixed with egg whites, used as dessert or between courses of a meal.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A kind of beverage; sherbet.
WordNet 3.0
- n. an ice containing no milk but having a mushy consistency; usually made from fruit juice
Etymologies
- French sorbet, from Middle French, from Old Italian sorbetto, from Turkish şerbet, from Arabic شربة ("drink"). (Wiktionary)
- French, from Ottoman Turkish sherbet, sweet fruit drink; see sherbet. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“This kind of preparation was first refined in 17th-century Italy, which gave us the term sorbet via sorbetto from the Arabic sharab, or “syrup”.”
Simon & Schuster: On Food and Cooking, The Science and Lore of the Kitchen
“The sorbet is simple, with just three ingredients: pineapple, sugar and water.”
“The goal of most ice cream and sorbet is to have a smooth and creamy texture, which would be ruined by the presence of large ice crystals.”
“The color on the strawberry rhubarb sorbet is just perfect!”
“Hmm ... no idea what the real fruit smells like, but Ciao Bella's blood orange sorbet is out of this world ....”
“A more refined fruit juice or fruit puree frozen dessert with a fine texture is made with sugar syrup and is called sorbet, as in Plum Sorbet in Tulipes page 294.”
“The Weirs' book contains scores of seductive recipes, many of which, I smugly think, would have been wasted on my younger self in any case – Campari and orange, Earl Grey, tamarind – but, as the principle of the sorbet is the important thing, here I've decided to stick with the undisputed classic of the genre.”
“If you could face removing the stones from 50 tiny sloes rather you than me then a sorbet is another possibility.”
“If I'm going to have dessert, I have sorbet, which is often the lowest-calorie option.”
“As a confirmed chocolate ice cream lover, I have to admit the sorbet is my new favorite.”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘sorbet’.
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Of Arabic Origin
Arabic loanwords in English are words acquired directly from Arabic or else indirectly by passing from Arabic into other languages and then into English. Most entered one or more of the Romance lan...
admiral, adobe, albatross, alchemy, alcohol, alcove, alembic, alfalfa, algebra, algorism, algorithm, alidade and 181 more...
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IMCO - EU nomenclature
includes words of the "Prodcom list"
veal, valve, used, yak, wax, wan, teak, vat, vas, strip, use, strap and 4515 more...
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Just Desserts!
Mmmm...mmmmm
Tiramisu, Death by chocolate, Mousse, Jelly, Custard, Tarte tatin, Cake, Pie, Pudding, Tarts, Pancakes, trifle and 10 more...
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Conversations
Words with interesting comments. This doesn't mean I'm adding schadenfreude.
sprite, footnote, ringxiety, firkin, jesus's, guys, möbius strip, mentions, waxed paper, za, hobby horse, ombrology and 54 more...
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The sweetest thing.
A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down!
sugary, sweetness, fragrant, cloying, saccharine, honey, luscious, nectar, pudding, pastry, bittersweet, cupcake and 44 more...
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sorbet
palette cleansers
dimpastos, salsoda, abluent, collyrium, dithering, cleanser, purifier, sorbet, sweet fruit drink, ear-lotion, tongue-soother, kirschwasser and 22 more...
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Color Words for Shoes
Vendors can get oddly creative.
amaranth, brindle, iguana, slate black, madder brown, bison, pinecone, seal brown, forest night, burnt orange, monument, beet red and 399 more...
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Flutter
tuberose, golden apple, apple cider, unicorn, extraordinary, Pleiades, Merope, speckle, glitter, rose, pitter-pat, whale and 314 more...
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colleen's words
yellow, green, pie, blue, fur, people, incense, book, brown, avuncular, mountain, fog and 1316 more...
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Words Covered in Faery Dust (S)
words that evoke magic, mystery, mayhem, magnificence or anything else that glimmers in the grass
sabian symbols, saffron, sagacious, sage, salamander, sally lunn, salmon, salsify, salt water taffy, samhain, sand dollar, sandalwood and 270 more...
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zanshin's Words
gargoyle, ennui, paradigm, aardvark, verisimilitude, ghoti, tenacity, nescience, guillemet, squonk, maven, moxie and 210 more...
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S
saffron, sapphire, sashay, satin, seashell, seductive, sepia, serene, shadow, shimmer, silhouette, skyline and 96 more...
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mandarine's Words
antepenultimate, metonymy, synecdoche, pop, kern, inherit, clique, scrumptious, macerate, murmur, kerning, veranda and 1068 more...
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Inner B
Words with the letter b within the word, not just as the initial or last letter.
remember, maybe, able, unable, nimble, cable, reusable, thimble, cymbal, capable, tremble, enable and 143 more...
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Interesting Foods
smelt, sprat, caviar, sushi, papadum, garlic naan, injera, doro wat, miso, pho, edamame, tataki and 170 more...
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lotic words of flow
fast flowing, rapid, confluent words
boustrophedon, boustrophedric, thixotrophic, ludic, hesychastic, blend, quaquaversal, phacoemulsification, mordant, glissando, vatic, tournure and 233 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for sorbet.
reesetee It IS heavenly, I'd say. Peach sorbet--even better, depending on your tastes. :-) Feb 16, 2007
uselessness Good times, y'all, good times. Seriously though, I should find some sorbet and try it because, come to think of it, I've never had it before. And depending on the fruit it's made with, it sounds pretty tasty. Watermelon sounds heavenly. Feb 16, 2007
chained_bear (Chained Bear walks in late, quickly sizes up the situation.)
.... Yeah! What Reesetee said!
Uh... happy birthday, uselessness. Feb 15, 2007
reesetee Fine. Keep looking, but you know you'll never find it. You know we're the best. Admit it. We are. Feb 15, 2007
uselessness Chocolate birthday cake?
Fruit and water?
No thanks.
Happiness isn't good enough for me! I demand euphoria!
I guess I'll just have to look somewhere else to have my birthday dreams fulfilled... you guys are dull. Feb 15, 2007
reesetee Oh, SURE! Anything to make your birthday the Best Ever! As long as it's chocolate. Can't have any birthday cake but chocolate. Nope. Just wouldn't do. Chocolate it is.
Did I say chocolate?
I'll have it in the mail tomorrow. Look for an exceedingly large FEDEX envelope (sheet cake, you know, to feed all those guests). You're on your own with the ice cream. Or sherbet. Or sorbet. Feb 15, 2007
uselessness Are you volunteering, reesetee? What a loving, supportive web site I've found! This is going to be the Best Birthday Ever!! Feb 15, 2007
reesetee Sheesh. Maybe a birthday cake? ;-) Feb 15, 2007
chained_bear Well, now, sherbet is harder to make, see. If you're going to insist, I'll just have to bow out, and/or find some other spectacular method of marking the anniversary of your entry into this vast, wordful world. ;) Feb 15, 2007
uselessness Oh. Hmm. I knew I liked English better for a reason.
Make me some sherbet then, and have someone else taste-test it for you -- I'd hate for you to become ill on my behalf. Feb 15, 2007
chained_bear Sorbet is actually just fruit (or whatever product, e.g. almonds) and water (with sugar added perhaps). My understanding is that sherbet is slightly different because it contains cream or milk or dairy products of some kind. That is, there is a real difference beyond French snobbiness; for example, since I'm lactose intolerant, I can eat sorbet without a problem, but if it's sherbet, I had better know ahead of time.
Even if sherbet doesn't contain dairy products, it always tastes different and more creamy than sorbet, which is strictly fruit and water. So says my brother the chef... Feb 15, 2007
uselessness Generally speaking, I'm with reesetee; any French word with a silent "T" that has a perfectly legitimate, less pretentious English version is just too snobby for me to bother.
But since it's for my birthday, I'm willing to make exceptions. I'll leave the logistics of getting it here for you. And do hurry, I'd hate for it to all be melted by the time it arrives for my several hundred party guests to enjoy. Feb 15, 2007
reesetee Hmm. I always preferred the word sherbet, although apparently these confections differ slightly from one another.
Wondering how c_b plans to get sorbet to uselessness.... Feb 15, 2007
uselessness Feel free to make me some. Saturday's my birthday, and I would deem that a worthy gift. Feb 15, 2007
chained_bear Turns out watermelon sorbet is pretty easy to make. And quite yummy. Feb 15, 2007