pousse-café
Americannoun
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an after-dinner drink of liqueurs of various colors and specific gravities, carefully poured into a glass so as to remain floating in separate layers.
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a small glass of liqueur served after coffee.
noun
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a drink of liqueurs of different colours in unmixed layers
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any liqueur taken with coffee at the end of a meal
Other Word Forms
Etymology
Origin of pousse-café
1875–80; < French: literally, (it) pushes on (the) coffee
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.
It's a technicolor dream of a smoothie, a pousse-café meets a parfait meets a smoothie, as delicious as it was visually stunning.
From Salon • May 19, 2022
Over what was probably not pousse-café, Ricky took out a deck of cards and stunned us into admiration.
From New York Times • Nov. 28, 2018
I have become acquainted with a drink called pousse-café, which contains all the colors of the rainbow.
From The Valiants of Virginia by Rives, Hallie Erminie
She had uttered her protest against the pilgrimage, as she had swept the Parisian's pousse-café from his elbow.
From In and out of Three Normady Inns by Dodd, Anna Bowman
In other words, sir, you are a sort of human pousse-café, a mighty agreeable concoction, Mr. Bib, though a trifle dangerous to tackle at breakfast.
From Half-Hours with the Idiot by Bangs, John Kendrick
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
