▪ I. sausage, n.
(ˈsɒsɪdʒ, -ɔː-)
Forms: α. 5 sawsyge, 6 sawsege, -cedge, sausige, saucege, saussege, 6–7 sausedge, 7 sausidge, sausege, sauceidge, sawcege, -sidge, -sadge, -sedge, saussage, saucige, sossage, 7–8 sawsage, saucidge, (7, 9 vulgar sassage, 9 vulgar sossige), 6– sausage; β. 7 salsage, soulsage, saltsage.
[ME. sausige, a. ONF. saussiche (Central OF., mod.F. saucisse) = Sp., Pg. salchicha, It. salsiccia:—late L. salsīcia, fem. sing. or perh. neut. pl. of *salsīcius (? prepared by salting), f. sals-us salted: see -itious.
For the representation of original (-tʃ) in unstressed syllables by (-dʒ), cf. cabbage, knowledge, and the usual pronunciation of Greenwich, Woolwich, Norwich, spinach.]
1. In the original use, a quantity of finely chopped pork, beef, or other meat, spiced and flavoured, enclosed in a short length of the intestine of some animal, so as to form a cylindrical roll (usually, one of the ‘links’ formed by tying the containing intestine at regular intervals); later also, in generalized sense, meat thus prepared. Since the 19th c. the application of the word has been greatly extended; in its widest use, it denotes a preparation of comminuted beef, veal, pork, mutton, or a mixture of these, either fresh, salted, pickled, smoked or cured, with salt, spices, flour (sometimes with the addition of fats, blood, sugar, vegetables, etc.), stuffed into a container made from an intestine, stomach, bladder, or other animal tissue.
There are more than 150 kinds of sausage, distinguished by names indicating the ingredients and the method of manufacture. They are divided into two classes, in the U.S. known as dry sausage, which is a cured product, subjected to a process of drying lasting several weeks, and fresh sausage or wet sausage. Bologna sausage: see Bologna. polonian sausage, polony sausage: see polony2. German sausage: see German a.2 4.
| α 14.. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 609/5 Salsicia [printed salsicix], a sawsyge. 1553 Eden Treat. Newe Ind. (Arb.) 29 Keping it in a certayne pickle as we do regottes or sausages. 1573 Baret Alv. s.v. Pudding, A pudding called a sawsege, tomaculum. 1585 T. Washington tr. Nicholay's Voy. ii. xi. 46 Certain sauceges and other good..refreshments. 1586 D. Rowland Lazarillo C j, The euil eaten sausedge came gushing out after. 1598 Epulario C iij, To make good Sausseges of Pork or other flesh. 1617 Moryson Itin. i. 70 Sawsages the pound ten sols. 1641 Conf. J. Browne, Jesuit A 3, He.. brought them of his Holinesses bread, and wine, and other rarities, as Bolognean Sassages, and such dainties. c 1645 Howell Lett. (1650) I. v. xxxviii. 174 She must go adorn'd with chaines of Sausages. c 1700 W. Bishop in Ballard MSS. XXXI. 122 Your best Oxford Sossages. 1755 Johnson, Sausage, a roll or ball made commonly of pork or veal, and sometimes of beef, minced very small, with salt and spice; sometimes it is stuffed into the guts of fowls, and sometimes only rolled in flower. a 1845 Hood Sausage Maker's Ghost 34 To meet the call from streets, and lanes, and passages, For first-chop ‘sassages’. 1848 Thackeray Van. Fair xl, Her fingers were like so many sausages. 1850 Dickens Dav. Copp. vii, Poor Traddles in a tight, sky-blue suit that made his arms and legs like German sausages. 1853 A. Soyer Pantropheon 390 Pheasant sausages, a delicious mixture of the fat of that bird, chopped very small, and mixed with pepper. 1863 W. C. Baldwin Afr. Hunting ix. 367, I..made a sheep into sausages. 1887 Henley Culture in the Slums i. 2 ‘Look sharp’, ses she, ‘with them there sossiges.’ |
| β 1634 Sir T. Herbert Trav. 183 The fruit [Banana] is long in fashion of a soulsage. 1648 J. Raymond Il Merc. Ital. 182 In Bolonia..I took a taste of those famous Saltsages, that are compos'd at Bolonia. |
2. transf. and
fig. a. Applied to a thing having the appearance of a sausage or string of sausages.
| 1650 W. D. tr. Comenius' Gate Lat. Unl. (1656) 63 Parted as it were into ropes, or sawsidges [Lat. in funes aut farcimina], which the anatomists call muscles. 1685 Roxb. Ball. (1885) V. 599 The iron Sawsages I wear [i.e. fetters]. 1879 Stevenson Trav. with Donkey (1886) 79 The sack..hung at full length across the saddle, a green sausage six feet long. |
b. Applied to certain kinds of indiarubber.
| 1903 Times 14 Feb. 4/6 India Rubber.—Mozambique, good stickless sausage, 3s. 2½d...sausage softish, 2s. 10d. |
c. = sausage-balloon.
| 1858 Househ. Words 30 Jan. 168/1 Down came the grand royal blue sausage. 1874 Belgravia Aug. 170 This sausage was incased in the ordinary net-work and dependent shrouds, encircled by the ordinary hoop, and sustaining the ordinary car—a big circular basket capable of containing four persons comfortably. 1916 J. Buchan Battle of Somme 20 Captive balloons, the so-called ‘sausages’, glittered in the sunlight. 1916 J. R. McConnell in World's Work Nov. 53/2 Norman Prince became obsessed with the idea of bringing down a German ‘sausage’, as the observation balloons are called. 1928 C. F. S. Gamble Story N. Sea Air Station xx. 356 While the first pilot brings the boat down to 1,000 feet and flies over the air station to have a careful look at the ‘sausage’ to confirm the wind direction. 1929 Hall & Niles One Man's War 164 A balloon job is either a success or a failure the very first time you try, as the crew on the ground haul in their ‘sausage’ at the first note of warning from the observers. 1940 [see obbo]. |
d. slang. A German. Also
attrib. ?
Obs.| 1890 Barrère & Leland Dict. Slang II. 203/2 Sausage game (billiards), a German game. 1909 Sat. Even. Post 3 July 30 The durned old beer-swillin' sausage! 1919 Athenæum 8 Aug. 727/2 The German was known by several names, as ‘Jerry’,..‘Sausage’, [etc.]. 1923 J. Manchon Le Slang 255 Sausage..sobriquet de l'Allemand. 1929 E. A. Dolph Sound Off! 186 In the World War.. our soldiers not only sang about the ‘Huns’, ‘Krauts’, and ‘sausages’, but they even took a fling at the..French. |
e. slang. A German trench-mortar bomb, so called because of its shape. ?
Obs.| 1915 [see Bath Oliver s.v. Bath n.2 2 a]. 1918 H. W. McBride Emma Gees 164 At first we called them ‘sausages’, then ‘rum-jars’..then they became ‘flying pigs’. 1926 F. M. Ford Man could stand Up ii. v. 184 What the Germans called Minenwerfer might project what our people called sausages. |
f. colloq. A person,
esp. in
phr. silly old sausage and
varr.| [1900 Dialect Notes II. 57 Sausage, 1. A person easily imposed upon. 2. An easy-going, inoffensive person.] 1934 W. Gibson Fuel 72 His mother's stopped Waving, to wipe her eyes, the silly old sausage! 1955 ‘A. Gilbert’ Is she Dead Too? ii. 38 Dr Grieve..was a silly old sausage. 1972 K. Bonfiglioli Don't point that Thing at Me v. 54 Very good customer of mine..Very nice old sausage. 1977 Harper's & Queen Nov. 308/4 He's only had five letters, the dear old sausage. |
g. colloq. phr. not a sausage (and
varr.), nothing at all.
| 1938 M. Allingham Fashion in Shrouds xix. 349 I've been..to Ben's and I dropped in at Conchy Lewis's. Not a sossidge [sic] anywhere. 1943 P. Brennan et al. Spitfires over Malta 29 Nothing happened, & we came back very brassed off, not having seen a sausage. 1955 J. Bingham Paton Street Case viii. 139 Don't go and quarrel with the old geezer, or he'll cut you off without a sausage. Hang on, and you'll get the lot. 1963 V. Nabokov Gift iii. 179 Time flies, he gets older, she blossoms out—and not a sausage. Just walks by and scorches you with a look of contempt. 1970 P. Laurie Scotland Yard iii. 69 We do this for three nights and don't get a sausage—we stop lots of people but they're all relatively straight. 1978 J. Wainwright Ripple of Murders 134 ‘Anything?’ ‘Not a sausage, Dick.’ 1981 Times 29 June 12/6 Mr Healey said the press did not print Labour's actual policies. ‘Not a sausage.’ |
h. A length of padded fabric that can be placed at the foot of a door to stop draughts.
| 1961 Partridge Dict. Slang Suppl. 1259/1 Sausage,..a draught-excluder placed at foot of a door. 1962 Times 10 Feb. 11/3 Red twill coated, sand filled sausages along window ledges. 1977 Times 30 Apr. 20/1 Keeping the maximum heat indoors by..using sandfilled sausages against gaps under doors. |
3. Mil. = saucisse,
saucisson 3.
| 1645 Enchiridion of Fortif. 34 The figure..Presents the form of a Saucidge, the use whereof is to secure the foundations of Workes in Moorish..grounds. 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. xvi. (Roxb.) 102/2 Sauceidges are things made of fagotts and brush wood to fill vp ditches. 1704 J. Harris Lex. Techn. I. s.v., Two of these Saucidges are commonly applied to every Mine, to the end that if one should fail, the other may take effect. 1763 R. Orme Milit. Trans. Hindostan I. 276 A serjeant of artillery, carrying a barrel of gunpowder with a long sausage to it, went forward [etc.]. 1845 W. H. Maxwell Hints to Soldier I. 65 A sergeant..leaped upon the covered way with intent to cut the sausage of the enemy's mines. |
4. attrib. and
Comb. a. simple
attrib., as in
sausage-factory,
sausage-shop;
b. objective, as in
sausage-maker,
sausage-seller,
sausage-stuffer; also in names of appliances used in making sausages, as
sausage-cutter,
sausage-filler,
sausage-grinder,
sausage-stuffer;
sausage-eating adj.;
c. similative, as in
sausage-finger;
sausage-fingered,
sausage-pink,
sausage-shaped adjs.| 1891 Century Dict., *Sausage-cutter, a machine for cutting sausage-meat. |
| 1913 ‘Saki’ When William Came xii. 206 A highly civilized race like ours..is not going to be held under for long by a lot of damned *sausage-eating Germans. 1922 Joyce Ulysses 324 And as for the Prooshians and the Hanoverians,..haven't we had enough of those sausageeating bastards? |
| 1837 Dickens Pickw. xxxi, ‘Celebrated *Sassage factory’, said Sam. |
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., *Sausage-filler, a small machine for stuffing sausage-meat into intestines. 1884 Health Exhib. Catal. 110/2 Sausage Fillers. |
| 1910 Practitioner Jan. 33 The fingers..as large at their tips as at their base—the so-called *sausage fingers. |
| 1841 Thackeray Men & Coats Wks. 1900 XIII. 602 The old *sausage-fingered Berlin gloves. |
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., *Sausage-grinder, a machine for mincing meat for sausages. |
| 1797 Encycl. Brit. I. 212/1 æschines..the son of Charinus a *sausage-maker. |
| 1922 Joyce Ulysses 59 The ferreteyed porkbutcher folded the sausages he had snipped off with blotchy fingers, *sausagepink. |
| 1572 Huloet (ed. Higins), *Sawsage seller, one that selleth sawsages, allantopola. |
| 1839 Lindley Introd. Bot. iii. (ed. 3) 454 *Sausage-shaped (botuliformis); long, cylindrical, hollow, curved inwards at each end; as the corolla of some Ericas. 1926 J. S. Huxley Ess. Pop. Sci. 251 It will become simpler..and finally be converted into a sausage-shaped semi-opaque mass of tissue. 1956 Nature 18 Feb. 320/2 Dr. Dessens mentioned a small sausage-shaped (presumably organic) type of particle. |
| 1767 Sterne Tr. Shandy IX. v. 12 A Jew who kept a *sausage shop in the same street. 1859 Dickens T. Two Cities i. v, At the sausage-shop. 1873 Sausage-shop [see corner n.1 2 b]. |
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech., *Sausage-stuffer, a device for stuffing cleaned intestines with sausage-meat. |
d. Special comb.:
sausage balloon, (
a) an elongated aeronautical balloon;
† (
b)
slang, a kite balloon used for observation (
obs.);
sausage board, a surf-board rounded at both ends;
sausage-burger [
burger], a hamburger made with sausage meat;
sausage curl, a curl resembling a sausage; also,
esp. a horizontal curl (see
quots.);
sausage dog colloq., a dachshund;
† sausage-eater slang, a German (
obs.);
† sausage-hose, ? hose padded so as to resemble sausages;
sausage machine, a machine for manufacturing sausages; also
fig.,
esp. with reference to an institution that is held to ‘process’ its members so that their views, outlook, etc., are routinely identical; also
attrib.;
sausage-meat, meat minced and spiced to be used in sausages or as a stuffing; also
transf. and
attrib.;
sausage poison, a peculiar ptomaine sometimes developed in sausages; so
sausage-poisoning;
sausage roll, a sausage, or a roll of sausage-meat, enveloped in a cover of flour paste, and cooked;
sausage toad colloq. (see
quot. 1937);
sausage-tree, an evergreen tree,
Kigelia pinnata, belonging to the family Bignoniaceæ, native to tropical Africa, and bearing red, bell-shaped flowers followed by pendulous, hard-shelled fruits shaped like large sausages.
| 1874 Belgravia Aug. 170, I am not, at this length of time, quite certain as to whether the body of the ‘*sausage’ balloon was provided with two valves—one at each end of the cylinder—or whether there was but a solitary trap for the emission of gas at the convexity of the summit. 1916 F. M. Ford Let. 28 July (1965) 67 The air is full of sausage balloons, swallows, larks & occasional aeroplanes. 1917 ‘Sapper’ No Man's Land 97 A row of sausage balloons like a barber's rash adorned the sky. 1930 Blunden De Bello Germanico 79 Daylight relieving still prevailed, despite the hovering sausage-balloons. |
| 1965 J. Pollard Surfrider ii. 18 Or it might be a ‘*sausage board’—straight for most of its length and rounded at both ends. 1970 Studies in English (Univ. of Cape Town) I. 28 Older designs [of surfboard] include the sausage board; rounded at both ends. |
| 1942 Better Homes & Gardens Aug. 41/3 (Advt.), *Sausageburgers. Add 1 tsp. Heinz Horseradish (soaked 10 minutes in 1 tbs. water) to 1 lb. bulk pork sausage. Shape into four cakes. Pan-broil, turning often. 1979 Good Housekeeping Nov. 367/2 Sausage burgers. 450g..pork sausagemeat. 125g.. fresh white breadcrumbs [etc.]. |
| 1828 Lights & Shades II. 298 Misses in their ‘Boucles d'Angoulème’ (Anglice, *sausage curls). 1899 Kipling Stalky 40 Who, in a gray skirt and a wig of chestnut sausage-curls,..represented the Widow Twankey. 1966 J. S. Cox Illustr. Dict. Hairdressing 131 Sausage curl, a wide, croquignole-wound curl. Not to be confused with a spirally-wound drop or hanging curl. 1968 J. Ironside Fashion Alphabet 198 Sausage curls, similar to ringlets but laid horizontally. 1974 Country Life 28 Mar. 712/3 Pearls, ringlets and sausage curls. |
| 1938 J. W. Day Dog in Sport v. 77 From Royal circles the snaky ‘*sausage dog’ permeated downward through the aristocracy to the ranks of the common or show-bench exhibitors. 1958 L. Durrell Mountolive xv. 298 The door..opened and a dispirited-looking sausage-dog waddled into the room. 1972 Country Life 21 Dec. 1727/3 They poke fun at my toy German sausage dog. |
| 1918 Sat. Even. Post 22 June 70 The *sausage eaters decided to drop a few samples on our escadrille. |
| 1633 B. Jonson Tale Tub i. iv, His long *sawsedge-hose. |
| c 1840 C. Webb Vagrant i. i. 14 Coco. [Furiously.] Why you infernal old Tomahawk!—you Patent Mangler!—you *Sausage Machine to young men! 1850 New England Farmer II. 379 Sausage or Mincing Machine. This is a small, compact machine, remarkably strong and durable. 1860 Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 3), Sausage-machine, a machine for chopping or mincing meat for the purpose of making sausages. 1889 Kipling in Pioneer Mail 20 Nov. 647/3 They will be sorry that they began tampering with the great sausage-machine of civilization. 1934 R. Mackenzie Maitlands ii. 64 When I became a schoolmaster I was full of hope... But I soon saw I was just part of a sausage-machine. 1960 Encounter Jan. 40/2 Producing a stock of plays and playwrights to feed the relentless sausage-machines of the drama departments. 1976 Howard Jrnl. XV. i. 55 Rise in the incidence and severity of juvenile delinquency may increase pressures towards an even more ‘sausage-machine’ and delinquency-orientated approach.., with no better results. |
| 1723 J. Nott Cook's & Confectioner's Dict. sig. Hh4v, Lay in..some *Sausage-meat fry'd. 1741 E. Smith Compl. Housewife (ed. 10) 66 Slice a penny white loaf..and work it in well with your Sausage-meat. 1806 A. Hunter Culina (ed. 3) 49 If required, the sausage meat may be put into skins. 1845 E. Acton Mod. Cookery xi. 301 (heading) Sausage-meat cake; or, pain de porc frais. 1861 Mrs. Beeton Bk. Househ. Managem. x. 249 (heading) Sausage-meat stuffing, for Turkey. 1876 Besant & Rice Gold. Butterfly xvii, No wonder, I thought, that the men who wrote these things, were chopped up into sausage-meat. |
| 1843 R. J. Graves Syst. Clin. Med. Introd. Lect. 34 In this class appear miasms, contagions, the similar *sausage poison of Würtemburg. |
| 1876 A. W. Blyth Dict. Hygiene 506/1 Four hundred cases of *sausage-poisoning are stated to have occurred in Wurtemburg alone during the last fifty years. 1881 Syd. Soc. Lex., Allantiasis, sausage poisoning. |
| 1852 1st Rep. Commissioners Exhib. 1851 App. xxix. 150 *Sausage Rolls [consumed] 28,046. 1875 V. Lush Jrnl. 30 Jan. (1975) 157 Mrs O'Keefe and Mrs Spencer sent a large quantity of peaches and Mamma sent sausage rolls for the teachers. 1881 E. J. Worboise Sissie xx, Arnold..had nothing but a sausage-roll for his dinner. |
| 1937 Partridge Dict. Slang 728/1 *Sausage toad, sausage toad-in-the-hole: eating-houses' coll[oquialism]: late C. 19–20. 1958 B. Pym Glass of Blessings xiv. 159 Would you even have sausage toad if I ordered it? |
| 1915 L. H. Bailey Stand. Cycl. Hort. III. 1738/1 The ‘fetish-tree’ and ‘*sausage-tree’, is offered in S[outhern] Calif[ornia], and specimens may be expected in botanical collections in the W. Indies. 1944 Sun (Baltimore) 6 Dec. 8–d/3 An ‘Admirer Visiting in Florida’ sends me a colored picture postal-card view of a sausage tree... There they hang, the sausage-like seed pods, amid a background of wonderful green foliage. 1956 E. E. Evans-Pritchard Nuer Relig. xii. 298 The man who has committed incest..cuts in two the fruit of a sausage-tree. 1962 Times 9 Oct. (Uganda Suppl.) p. viii/4 The incredible sausage-tree with its dangling woody fruits. 1977 D. Beaty Excellency xii. 133 The sausage trees with heavy fruits shaped like giant loofahs. |
Add:
[2.] i. Naut. A length of moulded plastic or other yielding material suspended horizontally in a quayside or boat, and serving as a fender against collision or buffeting.
Cf. fender n. 2 b.
| 1968 Guardian 29 Feb. 5/5 The first step..would be to create a breakwater of plastic sausages to absorb the energy of waves. 1988 Motorboats Monthly Oct. 121/2 The alongside berths are notorious for their giant fenders. Known as sausages, they keep vessels off at the water line. |
[4.] [c.] sausage-like a.| 1852 H. Martineau in Househ. Words 27 Mar. 33/2 She is making it [sc. clay] into *sausage-like rolls. 1986 N.Y. Times 4 May xi. 33/3 Steak Portuguesa had a sausage-like flavor. |
▪ II. sausage, v. rare.
[f. prec.] trans. To subject (a person or thing) to treatment reminiscent of the manufacture or shape of a sausage.
| 1922 Joyce Ulysses 500 He is sausaged into several overcoats. 1949 Dylan Thomas Let. 13 Oct. (1966) 329 So that I won't..have at once to set into motion again the..little machines that sausage out crumbs and coppers for me. 1951 N. Mitford Blessing ii. ii. 168 ‘Sometimes they only sausage them.’ ‘They what?’ ‘Tie them up like sausages, brr round and round.’ 1965 Sunday Times (Colour Suppl.) 11 July 9/2 Once or twice we had a bit of an indiscretion, might sausage a motor into an island, or over a muddy pasture. |