▪ I. junket, n.
(ˈdʒʌŋkɪt)
Forms: α. 4–7 ionket, (5 -ett, 6 -et(t)e), 6 ionckette, 6–7 iuncket, (6 -ete, 7 -ette), iunquet, iunket, 7–9 juncket, junkett, 7– junket. β. 6 ioncat, 6 iouncat, 6–7 iuncat, -cate, 7 iunkat, -kate, 7–8 juncate. See also juncade.
[Of somewhat obscure history, in respect both of forms and senses, but app. a. ONF. *jonket, *jonquet or jonquette, rush-basket, f. jonc rush, junk n.1 Norman patois has ‘jonquette espèce de crême faite avec du lait bouilli, additionné de jaunes d'œuf, de sucre et de caramel’ (Moisy), and the related forms jonchée (= med.L. juncata, It. giuncata) and jonchiere, jonquiere (:—*juncāria) are common in senses 1 and 2 of our word (see Littré and Godef.).
The β-forms in sense 2 may be directly from med.L. juncata (cf. juncade); but their late occurrence in sense 3 is notable. The history of sense 2 is not quite clear; and the relationship of 3 to 4 is complicated by the earlier junkery.]
1. A basket (orig. made of rushes); esp. a basket in which fish are caught or carried. Now dial.
| 1382 Wyclif Exod. ii. 3 Whanne he myȝte hide hym no lenger, he tok a ionket of resshen..and putte the litil faunt with ynne. ― Job 2nd Prol. (1850) II. 671 If forsothe a iunket with resshe I shudde make. 1483 Cath. Angl. 198/1 A Ionkett for fysche. 1565–73 Cooper Thesaurus, Caudecæ, little coffers of wickers: iunkets wherein yeeles are taken. 1703 Thoresby Let. to Ray (E.D.S.), Junket, a wicker long wisket to catch fish. 1829 in Hunter Hallamsh. Gloss. 1883 Fisheries Exhib. Catal. 366 Junkets..hand Junkets. 1893 Northumbld. Gloss., Junket, a basket for catching fish. |
2. A cream-cheese or other preparation of cream (originally made in a rush-basket or served on a rush-mat: see juncade); now, a dish consisting of curds sweetened and flavoured, served with a layer of scalded cream on the top. (Popularly associated with Devonshire, but answering to the ‘curds and cream’ of other districts.)
| c 1460 J. Russell Bk. Nurture 93 Milke, crayme, and cruddes, and eke the Ioncate, Þey close a mannes stomak..Þerfore ete hard chese aftir. 1513 Bk. Kernynge in Babees Bk. 266 Be ware of cowe creme, &..Iouncat, for these wyll make your souerayne seke but he ete harde chese. 1620 Venner Via Recta v. 91 There are also certaine Iunkets vsually made of milke..as of the best of the milke coagulated, there is made a kinde of Iuncket, called in most places a Fresh-Cheese. a 1693 Urquhart Rabelais iii. xxxiii, No artificers are then [August] held in greater Request than the Afforders of refrigerating Inventions, Makers of Junkets [F. joncades]. 1825 Hone Every-day Bk. I. 561 Junket, made of raw milk and rennet..sweetened with sugar, and a little cream added [at Penzance]. 1826 Polwhele Trad. & Recoll. II. 533 Cornwall produced nothing good but junket and the ‘Weekly Entertainer’. 1881 Cornh. Mag. Nov. 609 Junkets identical with those for which Devonshire is famous, but made of ewe's instead of cow's milk. |
† 3. Any dainty sweetmeat, cake, or confection; a sweet dish; a delicacy; a kickshaw. Obs.
| α 1547–64 Bauldwin Mor. Philos. (Palfr.) 137 To behold the furnished table..with variety of the most dainty iunkets, costly and delicate dishes. 1566 W. Adlington Apuleius, Gold. Ass x. xlv, Bread pasties, tartes, custardes and other delicate ionckettes dipped in honie. 1629 Parkinson Parad., Orchard xviii. 586 [Orange peel] Candied with Sugar to serve with other dryed Junquets. 1694 Westmacott Script. Herb. 85 Fillberds..being an excellent Junket instead of Tobacco in their compotating humours. 1715 tr. Pancirollus' Rerum Mem. I. iv. x. 184 Junkets or Sweetmeats, were pompously brought in with the Solemnity of a Flute. |
| β 1586 T. B. La Primaud. Fr. Acad. i. 194 It agreeth not with them that make profession of manlie fortitude..to take such iuncates. 1608 Topsell Serpents (1658) 815 The people..do make of these Worms divers juncats, as we do Tarts, Marchpanes, Wafers, and Cheese-cakes. 1658 Rowland Moufet's Theat. Ins. 914 Juncates or honey-meats, and wafers, they have divers names as the thing is made. 1764 Harmer Observ. iii. iv. 134 A cake seems to be used for all juncates or dainty meats. |
4. A feast or banquet; a merrymaking accompanied with feasting; also in mod. use (chiefly U.S.), a pleasure expedition or outing at which eating and drinking are prominent; a picnic-party. Also transf. and fig.; spec. (see quot. 1886).
| 1530 Palsgr. 235 Ionkette, banquet. 1540 Morysine Vives Introd. Wysd. C j b, Spendynge his patrimonie vppon ionkettes [L. comessationes], mynstreles, and scoffers. a 1655 Vines Lord's Supp. (1677) 30 With these junkets and feasts they joyned the celebration of the Lords Supper. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 298 ¶5 At a late Junket which he was invited to. 1751 Johnson Rambler No. 142 ¶6 She taught him..to catch the servants at a junket. 1814 F. Burney Wanderer III. 73, I come..to ask the favor of your company..to a little junket at our farm. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xxviii. 1873 Dixon Two Queens I. iv. viii. 229 Amidst his bridal junkets, Charles was told [etc.]. 1886 Detroit Free Press 4 Sept. 4/2 The term ‘junket’ in America is generally applied to a trip taken by an American official at the expense of the government. 1946 R. Blesh Shining Trumpets (1949) vii. 162 The first recording junket of modern times. 1954 Koestler Invis. Writing xxxi. 326 Bloomsbury and Greenwich Village went on a revolutionary junket. 1966 Telegraph (Brisbane) 13 Apr. 51/1 United States delegates to the Inter-Parliamentary Union conference in Canberra are upset that their trip has been described as a junket. 1966 Sunday Times 11 Dec. 3/2 A week here as a member of a gambling junket. 1973 Black World Apr. 96 On a junket to L.A. and New York looking for scripts. 1973 Times 18 Aug. 14/1 The only way I could get to see the countries about whose politics I would write so knowledgeably was to get myself attached to groups of travel writers on facility trips, or what the Americans call junkets. |
5. Comb., as junket-basket (= picnic-basket).
| 1825 Hone Every-day Bk. I. 439 Well-stored junket-baskets. |
Hence junkeˈtaceous, ˈjunketous adjs., given to junketing. nonce-wds.
| 1760 H. Walpole Corr. (1837) II. 16 You are as junkettaceous as my lady Northumberland. 1830 Lady Granville Lett. (1894) II. 66 She rather likes the thought, having a more junketous soul than me. |
▪ II. junket, v.
(ˈdʒʌŋkɪt)
Also 7 -cat.
[f. prec. n.]
1. intr. To hold a banquet or feast; to make merry with good cheer; also (chiefly U.S.) to join in a picnic; to go on a pleasure excursion.
| 1555 [see junketing vbl. n.]. 1613 Purchas Pilgrimage ii. xiv. 192 If a female child be borne there is small solemnitie only..some yong wenches stand about the cradle, and lift it vp with the child in it, and name it.. and after this they iunket together. 1638 Sir T. Herbert Trav. (ed. 2) 350 A creature..rather made to wonder at, than to juncket on. 1657 Reeve God's Plea 86 A sad thing it is, that..when some are fasting, others should be juncating. 1715 tr. Pancirollus' Rerum Mem. I. ii. vi. 80 The Fire was in the middle of the Room, about which the Family did make Merry and Junket. a 1745 Swift Direct. Servants i. General, Whatever good bits you can pilfer in the day, save them to junket with your fellow-servants at night. 1821 Lady Granville Lett. (1894) I. 205 The same party junket on Friday to Chiswick. 1874 Greville Mem. Geo. IV (1875) III. xxiv. 122 The Chancellor had intended to go junketting on the Rhine. |
2. trans. To entertain, feast. rare.
| 1745 H. Walpole Lett. (1846) II. 64 The good woman..was in such a hurry to junket her neighbours. |