pickle
pronunciation
How to pronounce pickle in British English:
UK [ˈpɪkl]
How to pronounce pickle in American English:
US [ˈpɪkl]
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- Noun:
- vegetables (especially cucumbers) preserved in brine or vinegar
- informal terms for a difficult situation
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- Verb:
- preserve in a pickling liquid
Word Origin
- pickle (n.)
- c. 1400, probably from Middle Dutch pekel "pickle, brine," or related words in Low German and East Frisian (Dutch pekel, East Frisian päkel, German pökel), of uncertain origin or original meaning. Klein suggests the name of a medieval Dutch fisherman who developed the process. Originally a sauce served with meat or fowl; meaning "cucumber preserved in pickle" first recorded 1707, via use of the word for the salty liquid in which meat, etc. was preserved (c. 1500). Figurative sense of "sorry plight" first recorded 1560s, from the time when the word still meant a sauce served on meat about to be eaten. Meaning "troublesome boy" is from 1788, perhaps from the notion of being "imbued" with roguery.
- pickle (v.)
- 1550s, from pickle (n.). Related: Pickled; pickling.
Example
- 1. Other euphemistically-named vehicles are in a similar pickle .
- 2. In britain , fundamental physics is in a pickle
- 3. I 'm not sure about any chicken but there was enough vinegar to pickle a conker .
- 4. Still , for anyone needing a reminder of how america got into its present pickle in the region , this is a brisk , enjoyable way to get it .
- 5. After all , it seems unlikely that beijing has liberalised because it sees ideological merit in financial devolution . Rather , it is probably doing so because it is worried about the financial pickle local authorities have got themselves into .