mayonnaise
UK /ˈmeɪ.ə.neɪz/ · US /ˌmeɪ.əˈneɪz/ noun, verb
Forms mayonnaises mayonnaising mayonnaised
- noun A dressing made from vegetable oil, raw egg yolks, vinegar or lemon juice, and seasoning, used on salads, with French fries, in sandwiches, etc.
- noun Any cold dish with that dressing as an ingredient. “We served a lobster mayonnaise as a starter.”
- noun Any cream, for example for moisturizing the face or conditioning the hair, for which the base is egg yolks and oil. “hair mayonnaise”
- noun (Australia, informal) Exaggeration.
- verb (transitive) To cover or season with mayonnaise.
- noun (obsolete) In full Mayonnaise sauce or sauce Mayonnaise: alternative letter-case form of mayonnaise.
Synonyms
Etymology
Unadapted borrowing from French mayonnaise, possibly named after the city of Maó (Mahón in Spanish), Minorca, whence the recipe was brought back to France. Compare Spanish mahonesa. Alternative suggested origins include the city of Bayonne (bayonnaise); the Duke of Mayenne and the words manier (“to handle”) in French or moyeu (“eye yolk”) in Old French.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A sauce compounded of raw yolks of eggs beaten up with olive oil to the consistency of a sirup, and seasoned with vinegar, pepper, salt, etc.; --used in dressing salads, fish, etc. Also, a dish dressed with this sauce.
Etymology [F.]
Sources: Wiktionary · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “mayonnaise”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details