gravy

From Middle English gravey, greavie, gravy; probably from greaves, graves, the sediment of melted tallow, from Old French grave, apparently a misspelling of grané (“stew, spice”), from grain (“spice”). See also greaves.

• IPA^(key): /ˈɡɹeɪvi/

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -eɪvi

gravy (usually uncountable, plural gravies)

Poutine, a Canadian dish of French fries, curds and gravy.

Biscuits and gravy, a popular meal in the American South.

1. (uncountable) A thick sauce made from the fat or juices that come out from meat or vegetables as they are being cooked.
   1. (Britain, Canada) A dark savoury sauce prepared from stock and usually meat juices; brown gravy.

      A roast dinner isn't complete without gravy.

   2. (Southern US) A pale sauce prepared from a roux with meat fat; a type of béchamel sauce

      There are few foods more Southern than biscuits and gravy.

2. (countable) A type of gravy.
3. (uncountable, Italian-American) Sauce used for pasta.
4. (uncountable, India, Singapore) Curry sauce.
   • 1879, The Sunday at Home, Volume 26, page 342:

     With this the hostess poured two or three spoonfuls of the gravy of the curry on to the rice opposite to each person.

   • 1906, Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, "Pa Senik and his Son-in-Law Awang", Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, page 59-60:

     Now it seems that Pa Senik was a little deaf. Awang noticed that his father-in-law sometimes poured the gravy of his curry on his rice and that sometimes he sucked it up.

   • 1992, Khammān Khonkhai, The Teachers of Mad Dog Swamp

     This is strained with a piece of cloth or a strainer and the green liquid forms the gravy of the curry.

   • 2007, Geok Boi Lee, Classic Asian Noodles, Marshall Cavendish →ISBN, page 158

     Return flaked fish to curry gravy and bring to the boil.

5. (uncountable, informal) Unearned gain.
6. (uncountable, informal) Extra benefit.

   The first thousand tickets and the concessions cover the venue and the band. The rest is gravy.

For quotations of use of this term, see Citations:gravy.

• good gravy
• gravy boat
• gravy train

• → Welsh: grefi

• sauce
• brown sauce

• gravy in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

gravy

1. Alternative form of gravey

gravy m (uncountable)

1. gravy