sherry

noun

sher·​ry ˈsher-ē How to pronounce sherry (audio)
plural sherries
: a Spanish fortified wine with a distinctive nutty flavor
also : a similar wine produced elsewhere

Examples of sherry in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web In a small jar with a tight-fitting lid, combine the mint, olive oil, lemon juice, red onion, sherry vinegar, black pepper and salt; shake to combine. Bethany Thayer, Detroit Free Press, 17 Feb. 2024 Add 2 tablespoons dry sherry and salt and pepper to taste. Andrea Weigl, Charlotte Observer, 31 Jan. 2024 With the launch of a new fall bar menu, the typical whiskey, bourbon and scotch will be joined by sherry. Jill Wendholt Silva, Kansas City Star, 24 Jan. 2024 After the liquid is married together for a month, the whisky is put into Oloroso sherry casks which were previously used to age Aultmore single malt whisky. Jonah Flicker, Robb Report, 17 Dec. 2023 After more than three decades of maturation, a few 1991 vintage single malts were selected and put into an Oloroso sherry butt to finish. Jonah Flicker, Robb Report, 1 Mar. 2024 Examples of Christopher's eight-course tasting menu includes a seven day dry-aged Liberty duck with confit pearl onion, celery root and sherry gastrique. Bahar Anooshahr, The Arizona Republic, 12 Feb. 2024 The homemade sherry vinaigrette incorporates shallots for even more flavor. Southern Living Editors, Southern Living, 22 Feb. 2024 The mussels and the tuna each employ a sherry vinegar reduction. Jim Webster, Washington Post, 13 Dec. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'sherry.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

Etymology

alteration of earlier sherris (taken as plural), from Xeres (now Jerez), Spain

First Known Use

1584, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of sherry was in 1584

Dictionary Entries Near sherry

Cite this Entry

“Sherry.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/sherry. Accessed 28 Mar. 2024.

Kids Definition

sherry

noun
sher·​ry ˈsher-ē How to pronounce sherry (audio)
plural sherries
: a wine with a nutty flavor
Etymology

named for Xeres (now spelled Jerez), a city in Spain where the wine was originally made

Word Origin
It is common to name wines after the part of a country where they are made. The wine called sherry today was first made in a town originally called, in Spanish, Xeres. The English approximation of the Spanish pronunciation was \ˈsher-ēz\, spelled sherris. After a time, people thought that sherris was a plural and so made a singular form, sherry, by cutting off the supposed plural ending. The \sh\ sound symbolized by x in Spanish (later by j) changed to a \ḵ\ or \h\, so that the modern Spanish pronunciation of Jerez is even less like English sherry.

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