mayonnaise
Pluralmayonnaises (some meanings)
Verbmayonnaises, mayonnaising, mayonnaised
Pluralmayonnaises (some meanings)
Formsmayonnaises, mayonnaising, mayonnaised
- 1A thick, creamy dressing of raw egg yolks emulsified with vegetable oil and vinegar or lemon juice, seasoned and used on salads, fries, and sandwiches.
He whisked the oil slowly into the yolks until the mayonnaise thickened.
A spoonful of mayonnaise gave the potato salad its creamy texture.
- 2A cold prepared dish that includes mayonnaise as one of its ingredients.
The caterer served a chicken mayonnaise as part of the cold buffet.
Guests helped themselves to the egg mayonnaise before the main course.
- 3To coat or season food with mayonnaise.
He mayonnaised the fries generously and handed them over.
You can mayonnaise the chicken before grilling it.
- 4A cosmetic cream based on egg yolks and oil, used to moisturize the face or condition the hair.
The salon worked a rich mayonnaise into her damaged ends.
He left the mayonnaise on his scalp for twenty minutes as a deep conditioner.
- 5Overstatement that makes something seem grander or more important than it really is.
There was plenty of mayonnaise in her version of how the deal went down.
Critics dismissed the memoir as pure mayonnaise.
Similarexaggeration, embellishment, hype, hyperbole, puffery
Oppositeunderstatement
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Origin
A borrowing from French mayonnaise, possibly named after the city of Maó (Mahón in Spanish) on Minorca, from where the recipe was said to have been brought back to France; compare Spanish mahonesa. Other suggested origins include the city of Bayonne, the Duke of Mayenne, and the French word manier ("to handle") or Old French moyeu ("egg yolk").