sherry

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   A fortified wine produced in Jerez de la Frontera in Spain, or a similar wine produced elsewhere.

   He gazed around until on the lid of a spinet he spotted a promising collection of bottles, gin, whiskey, vermouth and sherry, mixed with violin bows, a flute, a toppling pile of books, six volumes of Grove's Dictionary mingled with paperback thrillers, a guitar without any strings, a pair of binoculars, a meerschaum pipe and a jar half-full of wasps and apricot jam.

2. 2
   noun

   A variety of sherry.

   They produce several quality sherries.

3. 3
   noun

   A glass of sherry.

   Would you like a sherry?

4. 4
   noun

   dry to sweet amber wine from the Jerez region of southern Spain or similar wines produced elsewhere

Simplified etymology

Sherry, recorded in English from the late 16th century, is named after Xeres, now Jerez, the Spanish town near which the wine is produced. The earlier English form sherries was later treated as a plural, leading speakers to create the singular sherry.

Back-formation of earlier sherris (interpreted as a plural), from Spanish (vino de) Xeres (“wine of Xeres”), Xeres being the former spelling of Jerez (pronounced /ʃeˈɾes/ in early modern Andalusian Spanish).

Topics

External links

• Google Images
• Cambridge Dictionary
• Wiktionary