GRAVY

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does gravy mean? 

• GRAVY (noun)
  The noun GRAVY has 3 senses:

1. a sauce made by adding stock, flour, or other ingredients to the juice and fat that drips from cooking meats

2. the seasoned but not thickened juices that drip from cooking meats; often a little water is added

3. a sudden happening that brings good fortune (as a sudden opportunity to make money)

  Familiarity information: GRAVY used as a noun is uncommon.

 Dictionary entry details 

• GRAVY (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

A sauce made by adding stock, flour, or other ingredients to the juice and fat that drips from cooking meats

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Hypernyms ("gravy" is a kind of...):

sauce (flavorful relish or dressing or topping served as an accompaniment to food)

Sense 2

Meaning:

The seasoned but not thickened juices that drip from cooking meats; often a little water is added

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Synonyms:

gravy; pan gravy

Hypernyms ("gravy" is a kind of...):

juice (the liquid part that can be extracted from plant or animal tissue by squeezing or cooking)

Sense 3

Meaning:

A sudden happening that brings good fortune (as a sudden opportunity to make money)

Classified under:

Nouns denoting natural events

Synonyms:

bonanza; boom; bunce; godsend; gold rush; gravy; manna from heaven; windfall

Context example:

the demand for testing has created a boom for those unregulated laboratories where boxes of specimen jars are processed like an assembly line

Hypernyms ("gravy" is a kind of...):

happening; natural event; occurrence; occurrent (an event that happens)

 Context examples 

So noble a pie, such tender pigeons, and sugar in the gravy instead of salt!

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

But we were not in condition to judge of this fact from the appearance of the gravy, forasmuch as the young gal had dropped it all upon the stairs—where it remained, by the by, in a long train, until it was worn out.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

I thanked him, and took my seat at the board; but found it extremely difficult to handle my knife and fork with anything like dexterity, or to avoid splashing myself with the gravy, while he was standing opposite, staring so hard, and making me blush in the most dreadful manner every time I caught his eye.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)