Definition of "caviar" [cav•i•ar]

• The roe of a large fish, especially sturgeon, that is salted, seasoned, and eaten as a delicacy or relish. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "Though the term caviar is now widely used to describe any sort of lightly salted loose fish eggs, for many centuries it referred only to loose sturgeon eggs."
• "The first recorded usage of the term "caviar," which derives from the Turkish word "khavyar," is attributed to Batu Kahn, Ghenghis Khan's grandson, in a written description of a meal he ate in 1240 at a monastery north of Moscow."
• "The Beluga caviar is apparently flown in from Iran five days ahead of her treatments at a beauty salon in South Kensington."