apéritif

[ ah-per-i-teef, uh-per-; French a-pey-ree-teef ]

noun,plural a·pé·ri·tifs [ah-per-i-teefs; French a-pey-ree-teef]. /ɑˌpɛr ɪˈtifs; French a peɪ riˈtif/.
  1. a small drink of alcoholic liquor taken to stimulate the appetite before a meal.

  2. Also called apéritif wine . a wine served as an appetizer or cocktail.

Origin of apéritif

1
1890–95; <French (vin) apéritif;see aperitive

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2024

How to use apéritif in a sentence

  • The terrace was thronged with the good Havre folks, husbands and wives and families enjoying the Sunday afternoon apéritif.

    Jaffery | William J. Locke
  • He had been smoking with Budden-Reynolds from four till five, and then went out to the American bar for an apéritif.

    The White Lie | William Le Queux
  • With these and your- 36 - apéritif, the place is yours as long as you choose to remain.

    The Real Latin Quarter | F. Berkeley Smith
  • But change and experiment and a good deal of preliminary discussion over an apéritif were more in the order of a week's visit.

    Nights | Elizabeth Robins Pennell
  • He paid for the two glasses of apéritif, and Ste. Marie could not help observing that he left on the table a very small tip.

    Jason | Justus Miles Forman

British Dictionary definitions for apéritif

apéritif

/ (ɑːˌpɛrɪˈtiːf, əˌpɛr-) /


noun
  1. an alcoholic drink, esp a wine, drunk before a meal to whet the appetite

Origin of apéritif

1
C19: from French, from Medieval Latin aperitīvus, from Latin aperīre to open

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