au lait

American

[oh ley, oh le] / oʊ ˈleɪ, oʊ ˈlɛ /

adjective

French Cooking.

prepared or served with milk.

au lait British

/ əʊ ˈleɪ, o lɛ /

adjective

prepared or served with milk

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of au lait

< French: literally, with the milk. See lact-

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

See Examples For:

au lait

Much like how the Big Ten and Pac-12 define the Rose Bowl, the SEC and Big 12 go with the Sugar Bowl like beignets go with a hot cafe au lait.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 28, 2023

Serve them with a bowl of cafe au lait for extra enjoyment.

From Salon ● Jan. 10, 2022

Expect café noir and café au lait with madeleines and quiche, plus pain perdu with strawberry, lime and basil, and fregola sarda risotto with octopus, from a menu that changes frequently.

From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 2, 2019

Up before dawn, warmed by big bowls of cafe au lait, then three hours of picking before a casse-croute of a hot white wine and saucisson.

From New York Times ● Sep. 20, 2016

A beautiful cafe au lait teen stuck her head out of one of the windows.

From "Beauty Queens" by Libba Bray

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023