caviar

or cav·i·are

[kav-ee-ahr, kav-ee-ahr]

SEE MORE SYNONYMS FOR caviar ON THESAURUS.COM

noun

the roe of sturgeon, especially the beluga, or other fish, usually served as an hors d'oeuvre or appetizer.

Origin of caviar

1585–95; apparently back formation from caviarie (taken, perhaps rightly, as caviar + plural ending, Latin or Italian -i), of uncertain origin; compare Italian caviaro, Turkish havyar

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2019

Related Words for caviar

delicacy, relish, roe

Examples from the Web for caviar

Contemporary Examples of caviar

They ate stuffed turkey, caviar, fresh salmon, and smoked trout.
Pablo Escobar’s Private Prison Is Now Run by Monks for Senior Citizens
Jeff Campagna
June 7, 2014
But for me it was better than the caviar at the home of the Ambassador of the United States.
Putin vs. Humanity
James Kirchick
May 20, 2014
He had pigeons flown in from Cairo and a fridge permanently full of caviar.
The Week in Death: Clarissa Dickson Wright, One of ‘Two Fat Ladies’
The Telegraph
March 22, 2014
Zahedi offered champagne and caviar; Orfila tango lessons.
My Time With Betty Ford
Sandra McElwaine
July 10, 2011
Is it just a question of getting used to life without oysters and caviar?
The Gulf's Bigger Oil Disaster
Alanna Mitchell
September 11, 2010

Historical Examples of caviar

They're just bein' served with Oolong and caviar sandwiches.
Torchy and Vee
Sewell Ford
It would begin to look like a quick change from Caviar to Crackers.
Ade's Fables
George Ade
I like your yacht better, and your chef and your alligator pears, and caviar.
Mistress Anne
Temple Bailey
On the caviar from this fish the youth lived thirty years, in the belly of that fish.
Georgian Folk Tales
Unknown
Like caviar, the genre is digestible only by those who have acquired a taste for it.
A History of Bibliographies of Bibliographies
Archer Taylor

British Dictionary definitions for caviar

caviar

caviare

noun

the salted roe of sturgeon, esp the beluga, usually served as an hors d'oeuvre

Word Origin for caviar

C16: from earlier cavery, from Old Italian caviari, plural of caviaro caviar, from Turkish havyār

CAVIAR

n acronym for

Cinema and Video Industry Audience Research

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

Word Origin and History for caviar

also caviare, 1550s, from French caviar (16c.), from Italian caviaro (modern caviale) or Turkish khaviar, from Persian khaviyar, from khaya "egg" (from Middle Persian khayak "egg," from Old Iranian *qvyaka-, diminutive of *avya-, from PIE *owyo-/*oyyo- "egg" see egg (n.)) + dar "bearing."