sherbet

[ shur-bit ]
See synonyms for sherbet on Thesaurus.com
noun
  1. Sometimes sher·bert [shur-burt] /ˈʃɜr bɜrt/ . a frozen dessert made with sweetened fruit juice or purée, typically containing milk or cream, with egg white or gelatin often added.

  2. a traditional Middle Eastern drink made of sweetened fruit juice diluted with water and ice.

  1. Chiefly British. a sweetened powder moistened in the mouth and eaten as a fizzy confection or mixed with water to make a fizzy drink.

Origin of sherbet

1
First recorded in 1595–1605; from Turkish şerbet, from Persian sharbat, from Arabic sharbah “a drink,” from shariba “to drink”

Words that may be confused with sherbet

Words Nearby sherbet

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

How to use sherbet in a sentence

  • The two have a terrible row about orange sherbet, and Don leaves Megan in a Howard Johnson parking lot.

  • But the beauty of it is that it has the best qualities of both desserts: creamy like a sherbet, refreshing like a sorbet.

    What to Eat | Cookstr.com | August 11, 2009 | THE DAILY BEAST
  • My new acquaintance called for a hookah and sherbet, and in a few moments we were on excellent terms.

    Confessions of a Thug | Philip Meadows Taylor
  • There was a little table at hand; on it stood a rock-crystal goblet and a silver cooler filled with snow-water and rose sherbet.

    God Wills It! | William Stearns Davis
  • Almost immediately she rentered, in each hand a silver cup, the cups identical, each filled with violet sherbet.

    God Wills It! | William Stearns Davis
  • Then in summer, if you can get ice cheaply, you can have fruits made into sherbet or frozen as they are.

    Living on a Little | Caroline French Benton
  • There we would sit sipping sherbet, and cracking nuts, among which salted watermelon seeds figured prominently.

    War in the Garden of Eden | Kermit Roosevelt

British Dictionary definitions for sherbet

sherbet

/ (ˈʃɜːbət) /


noun
  1. a fruit-flavoured slightly effervescent powder, eaten as a sweet or used to make a drink: lemon sherbet

  2. US and Canadian a water ice made from fruit juice, egg whites, milk, etc: Also called (in Britain and certain other countries): sorbet

  1. Australian slang beer

  2. a cooling Oriental drink of sweetened fruit juice

  3. Southern African informal a euphemistic word for shit taboo

Origin of sherbet

1
C17: from Turkish şerbet, from Persian sharbat, from Arabic sharbah drink, from shariba to drink

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