cocktail

cocktail short mixed drink originating in the United States and served as an appetizer. It generally has a basis of gin, whisky, rum, or brandy combined with vermouth or fruit juices and often flavored with bitters or grenadine. It is blended by stirring or shaking in a vessel containing cracked ice. The term is also applied to nonalcoholic beverages served as appetizers, e.g., tomato juice cocktail, and also to mixed, cut-up fruits and to shellfish and oysters served with a sharp sauce.

cock·tail / ˈkäkˌtāl/ • n. 1. an alcoholic drink consisting of a spirit or several spirits mixed with other ingredients, such as fruit juice, lemonade, or cream: [as adj.] cocktail parties. ∎  a mixture of substances or factors, esp. when dangerous or unpleasant in its effects: a cocktail of drugs that inhibits replication of HIV. 2. a dish consisting of small pieces of seafood or fruits, typically served cold at the beginning of a meal as an hors d'oeuvre: a shrimp cocktail.

cocktail
A. ‘cock-tailed’ horse, i.e. one with the tail docked and so sticking up like a cock's tail; beetle that cocks up its ‘tail’
;
B. (orig. U.S.) mixed drink with a spirit as basis. XIX. A. f. COCK 1 vb. + TAIL 1; B. of unkn orig.