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definitions

parfait

[pahr-fey]
noun
  1. a dessert of ice cream and fruit or ice cream and syrup in alternate layers, often topped with whipped cream and served in a tall, narrow, short-stemmed glass.
  2. any frozen dessert in which fruit, nuts, etc., have been folded into whipped cream or egg custard.

Origin of parfait

1890–95; < French: literally, perfect < Latin perfectus. See perfect
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for parfait

Historical Examples of parfait

  • But I mean to wade right through from hors-d'œuvres to parfait.

    Torchy and Vee

    Sewell Ford

  • Line the mold with an ice and fill the center with a mousse or a parfait.

    Woman's Institute Library of Cookery, Vol. 4

    Woman's Institute of Domestic Arts and Sciences

  • I refused the parfait aux frais and the savoury in my eagerness for the end of the meal.

    The King of Schnorrers

    Israel Zangwill

  • I don't believe that we could have been any jollier had there been ten courses, winding up with a parfait au caf and a demi-tasse.

  • Besides his memoirs he wrote a book called the Parfait Capitaine, and some others.

British Dictionary definitions for parfait

parfait

noun
  1. a rich frozen dessert made from eggs and cream with ice cream, fruit, etc

Word Origin for parfait

from French: perfect
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 parfait
n.

kind of frozen dessert, 1894, French, literally "perfect" (see perfect (adj.)).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper