Definition of "cocktail" []

• Any of various mixed alcoholic drinks consisting usually of brandy, whiskey, vodka, or gin combined with fruit juices or other liquors and often served chilled. (noun)
• Medicine A mixture of drugs, usually in solution, for the diagnosis or treatment of a condition. (noun)
• Medicine A treatment regimen that includes a combination of several drugs, so that their combined effect is more potent than that of any of the drugs used individually. (noun)
• An appetizer made by combining pieces of food, such as fruit or seafood: fruit cocktail; shrimp cocktail. (noun)
• Of or relating to cocktails: a cocktail glass; a cocktail party. (adjective)

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.

• "The word cocktail has spawned more mixological inventiveness than any other Global English term."
• "The oldest definition that anyone has found for the term "cocktail" describes a drink with exactly four ingredients: A spirit of course, water, bitters and sugar."
• "The first definition of the term cocktail appeared in a New York newspaper in the late 1800's."