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cruet

[kroo-it]
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noun
  1. a glass bottle, especially one for holding vinegar, oil, etc., for the table.
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Origin of cruet

1250–1300; Middle English < Anglo-French, equivalent to Old French cru(i)e pitcher (< Frankish *krūka; compare Old English crūce pot) + -et -et
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for cruet

Historical Examples

  • But I speak of the cruet sauces, where the quintessence of the sapid is condensed in a phial.

    Crotchet Castle

    Thomas Love Peacock

  • They'd mix about as well as a cruet of vinegar and a313 pail of lard.

  • A small quantity may be kept in a cruet; retaining the leaves at the bottom.

  • His eyes fell upon the cruet which contained the consecrated oil.

    Robert Annys: Poor Priest

    Annie Nathan Meyer

  • Hang the pepper-box to his nose, nurse, then he will be a cruet.

British Dictionary definitions for cruet

cruet

noun
  1. a small container for holding pepper, salt, vinegar, oil, etc, at table
  2. a set of such containers, esp on a stand
  3. Christianity either of a pair of small containers for the wine and water used in the Eucharist
  4. Australian a slang word for head (def. 1)
  5. do one's cruet Australian slang to be extremely angry; go into a rage
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pl n
  1. Australian slang the testicles
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Word Origin

C13: from Anglo-French, diminutive of Old French crue flask, of Germanic origin; compare Old Saxon krūka, Old English crūce pot
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 cruet

n.

"small glass bottle for vinegar, oil, etc.," c.1300, Anglo-French diminutive of Old French crue "an earthen pot," from Frankish *kruka or some other Germanic source (cf. Old High German kruog); related to crock.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper