Definition of "mortadella" [mortadella]

• A smoked Italian sausage made of ground pork and beef and cubes of pork fat, flavored with wine and spices. (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.

• "The word mortadella came into Italian in the Middle Ages from French and then Tuscan, having originated in the Latin word for the mortar in which the meat was pounded."
• "My account of the history of the word mortadella draws on V."
• "And not long after Croce’s death the word mortadella would become exclusively joined forever both to the kind of sausage we know today and to the city of Bologna."