sherbet
(ˈʃɜːbɪt)
Also 7 zer-, cer-, sar-, serbet, servet, shurbet, shirbet(t, sherbett(e, -bert, -becke, -pet, 9 sherbat, sharbut.
[a. Turkish and Persian sherbet, a. Arab. sharba{suph}, f. shariba to drink. Cf. sorbet.]
1. a. A cooling drink of the East, made of fruit juice and water sweetened, often cooled with snow. b. An European imitation of this; now esp. an effervescing drink made of sherbet powder (see 2).
| 1603 Knolles Hist. Turkes (1621) 833 The guests..dranke..water prepared with sugar, which kind of drink they call Zerbet. Ibid. 1203 A beverage, which they call Cerbet, made of the juice of lymons water and sugar. 1615 G. Sandys Trav. i. 12 Not much inferiour in relish to the costly Shurbets of Constantinople. Ibid. 65 Yet have they sundry sherbets..some made of sugar and lemons, some of violets, and the like. 1626 Bacon Sylva §705 They haue in Turkey and the East, certaine Confections which they call Seruetts. 1630 Capt. Smith Trav. & Adv. xiii. 25 [The Turks'] best drink is Coffa..and Sherbecke which is only honey and water. 1632 Lithgow Trav. iv. 151 Their common drinke is Sherpet. 1668 Lond. Gaz. No. 222/1 The Grand Seignior..had sent his Mother a Sherbette. 1675 Covel in Early Voy. Levant (Hakl. Soc.) 239 We..were severall times treated with sherbert of lemmons. 1685 tr. Gracian's Courtier's Man. 189 More precious than Chocolate, Coffee or Sarbet. 1753 Hanway Trav. (1762) I. iii. xxxiii. 151 There were..plates of comfits, several china basons of sherbets. 1813 Byron Br. Abydos ii. viii, A cup too on the board was set That did not seem to hold sherbet. 1817 Moore Lalla R., Fire-worshippers iii, The violet sherbets were hastily handed round. a 1845 Barham Ingol. Leg., Ld. of Thoulouse, To bring in sherbet, ginger-pop, lemonade. 1845 Cooley Cycl. Pract. Receipts (ed. 2) 550 Lemonade. Syn. Lemon Sherbet, King's Cup. Ibid., Orangeade or Orange Sherbet, for Icing, is made in the same way from oranges. 1845 Bregion & Miller Pract. Cook 336 Indian Sharbut. 1866 Livingstone in Blaikie Life xviii. (1881) 368 After coffee and sherbet we came away. |
| fig. 1728 Vanbr. & Cibber Provok'd Husb. iii. i, A smart Repartee, with a Zest of Recrimination at the Head of it, makes the prettiest Sherbet! |
2. In full
sherbet powder: A preparation of bicarbonate of soda, tartaric acid, sugar, etc., variously flavoured, for making an effervescing drink.
| 1856 Cooley Cycl. Pract. Receipts (ed. 3) 1066 Powders (Sherbet). These are made of the same materials as lemonade powders, the flavouring ingredient being varied to suit the particular case. 1895 Stores' Price List, Sherbet. Per doz. 1 lb. tins, 7/2. 1905 Macm. Mag. Dec. 83 The tin of pink sherbet. |
3. transf. a. A variously flavoured water-ice (
Cent. Dict. 1891: and in later Dicts.).
b. slang. (See
quots. 1890, 1917.)
| 1890 Barrère & Leland Dict. Slang, Sherbet (popular), a glass of any warm alcoholic liquor, as grog, &c. A misapplication. 1917 H. Lawson Coll. Verse (1969) III. 214 Beer that we called ‘sherbet’. 1974 F. Archer Treasure House i. 18 He had a strident voice and with a few sherbets under his belt you knew he was about. |
4. attrib. sherbet dabs (see
quot. 1957);
sherbet fountain, a confection consisting of a bag of sherbet with a liquorice ‘straw’ through which it is sucked up.
| 1675 Covel in Early Voy Levant (Hakl. Soc.) 263 Your little sherbert cups and coffee dishes are made often times of the same earth. 1805 M. Wilmot Jrnl. 9 Apr. in Londonderry & Hyde Russian Jrnls. (1934) I. 140 Some Sherbet Cups in silver stands. 1966 Mrs L. B. Johnson White House Diary 2 Aug. (1970) 403 My brother Tony Taylor had sent a set of sherbet cups that had belonged to my mother. |
| 1896 Godey's Mag. Apr. 446/1 Exquisite little sherbet doilies. |
| 1957 J. Kirkup Only Child 118 Another treat was Sherbet Dabs: we got a caramel-flavoured lollipop which we dipped into a bag of sherbet. 1958 Listener 23 Oct. 649/2 The Bonds' shop was not the place for liquorice root, tiger nuts, or sherbet dabs. |
| 1957 R. Hoggart Uses of Literacy i. ii. 57 The boy's odder pleasures of taste, not so much..the sherbet-fountains, monkey nuts and aniseed balls, but..a penny stick of licorice or some cinnamon root from the chemist. |
| 1615 Sandys Trav. i. 74 Cookes, sherbet-men (who make the foresaid beurage). |