▪ I. ‖ chasse1
(ʃɑːs)
[F. châsse:—L. capsa case: see also chase n.2]
A shrine or case for the relics of a saint.
| 1670 R. Lassels Voy. Italy (1698) I. 35 In this church are to be seen relicks of S. Mary Magdalen..her body in a gilt chasse. 1865 Reader 18 Mar. 219/1 A..fine chasse of Limoges enamel of the middle of the thirteenth century. |
▪ II. ‖ chasse2
(ʃas)
[Fr.; short for chasse-café, lit. ‘chase-coffee, coffee-chaser’, f. chasse-r to chase, drive away. (Now called in Fr. pousse-café.)]
A draught or potion of some spirituous liquor, taken ostensibly to remove the taste of coffee, tobacco, or the like. The full chasse-café is now less used.
| 1800 M. Edgeworth Belinda iii. (1857) 45 She ordered coffee, and afterward chasse-café. 1841 L. Hunt Seer (1864) 25 For the digester itself is digested by a liqueur..called a chasse-café (coffee-chaser). 1857 Lawrence Guy Liv. vii, So one glass of cognac neat, as a chasse (to more things than good claret). 1866 Sala Barbary xv. 298 Tourists..who breakfast in the Valley are in the habit of..‘potting’ the monkeys by way of a chasse-café. 1871 M. Collins Mrq. & Merch. I. vi. 205 The coffee and chasse followed. 1887 Pall Mall G. 7 Feb. 3/2. |
So ‖ chassé, pa. pple. [Fr.] Treated, or having the taste disguised, with a chasse.
| 1840 Lever H. Lorrequer (Hoppe), Tea or coffee? there's the rum if you like it ‘chassé’. |