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gra·vy

(grāvē)

n. pl. gra·vies

a. The juices that drip from cooking meat.

b. A sauce made by thickening and seasoning these juices.

2. Slang

a. Money, profit, or benefit easily or illicitly gained.

b. Payment or benefit in excess of what is expected or required.

[Middle English grave, sauce for fish, fowl, or rabbit made from broth, almond milk, spices, and wine, from Middle French gravé, possibly a misreading of grané, meat served in broth, from grain, grain, the solid pieces in a dish consisting of solids and liquids, from Old French, grain, from Latin grānum; see gə-no- in the Appendix of Indo-European roots.]

Indo-European & Semitic Roots Appendices

Thousands of entries in the dictionary include etymologies that trace their origins back to reconstructed proto-languages. You can obtain more information about these forms in our online appendices:

Indo-European Roots

Semitic Roots

The Indo-European appendix covers nearly half of the Indo-European roots that have left their mark on English words. A more complete treatment of Indo-European roots and the English words derived from them is available in our Dictionary of Indo-European Roots.

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