Adjacent Words

Pickle definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

PICK'LE, n. Brine; a solution of salt and water, sometimes impregnated with spices,in which flesh, fish or other substance is preserved; as pickle for beef; pickle for capers or for cucumbers; pickle for herring.
1. A thing preserved in pickle.
2. A state of condition of difficulty or disorder; a word used in ridicule or contempt. You are in a fine pickle.
How cam'st thou in this pickle?
3. A parcel of land inclosed with a hedge. [Local.]
PICK'LE, v.t. To preserve in brine or pickle; as, to pickle herring.
1. To season in pickle.
2. To imbue highly with any thing bad; as a pickled rogue.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

n
1: vegetables (especially cucumbers) preserved in brine or vinegar
2: informal terms for a difficult situation; "he got into a terrible fix"; "he made a muddle of his marriage" [syn: fix, hole, jam, mess, muddle, pickle, kettle of fish] v
1: preserve in a pickling liquid

Merriam Webster's

I. noun Etymology: Middle English pykyl, pekill sauce, gravy, from or akin to Middle Dutch peeckel brine Date: 15th century 1. a solution or bath for preserving or cleaning: as a. a brine or vinegar solution in which foods are preserved b. any of various baths used in industrial cleaning or processing 2. a difficult situation ; plight <could see no way out of the pickle I was in — R. L. Stevenson> 3. an article of food that has been preserved in brine or in vinegar; specifically a cucumber that has been so preserved II. transitive verb (pickled; pickling) Date: 1570 1. to treat, preserve, or clean in or with a pickle 2. to give a light finish to (as furniture) by bleaching or painting and wiping III. noun Etymology: perhaps from Scots pickle to trifle, pilfer Date: 1552 1. Scottish grain, kernel 2. Scottish a small quantity

Oxford Reference Dictionary

n. & v. --n. 1 a (often in pl.) food, esp. vegetables, preserved in brine, vinegar, mustard, etc. and used as a relish. b the brine, vinegar, etc. in which food is preserved. 2 colloq. a plight (a fine pickle we are in!). 3 Brit. colloq. a mischievous child. 4 an acid solution for cleaning metal etc. --v.tr. 1 preserve in pickle. 2 treat with pickle. 3 (as pickled adj.) sl. drunk. Etymology: ME pekille, pykyl, f. MDu., MLG pekel, of unkn. orig.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Pickle Pic"kle, n. [Obs.] See Picle.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Pickle Pic"kle, n. [Cf. D. pekel. Probably a dim. fr. Pick, v. t., alluding to the cleaning of the fish.] 1. (a) A solution of salt and water, in which fish, meat, etc., may be preserved or corned; brine. (b) Vinegar, plain or spiced, used for preserving vegetables, fish, eggs, oysters, etc. 2. Any article of food which has been preserved in brine or in vinegar.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Picke Pi"cke, n. [Prob. fr. pightel or pingle.] A small piece of land inclosed with a hedge; a close. [Obs.] [Written also pickle.]

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Pickle Pic"kle, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Pickled; p. pr. & vb. n. Pickling.] 1. To preserve or season in pickle; to treat with some kind of pickle; as, to pickle herrings or cucumbers. 2. To give an antique appearance to; -- said of copies or imitations of paintings by the old masters.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(pickles, pickling, pickled) 1. Pickles are vegetables or fruit, sometimes cut into pieces, which have been kept in vinegar or salt water for a long time so that they have a strong, sharp taste. N-PLURAL 2. Pickle is a cold spicy sauce with pieces of vegetables and fruit in it. ...jars of pickle. N-MASS 3. When you pickle food, you keep it in vinegar or salt water so that it does not go bad and it develops a strong, sharp taste. Select your favourite fruit or veg and pickle them while they are still fresh... VERB: V n • pickling Small pickling onions can be used instead of sliced ones. N-UNCOUNT: oft N n

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

n. 1. Salt and water (for preserving meat), brine. 2. Vinegar (for preserving meats or vegetables). 3. Sorry condition, sad plight, predicament (colloq.).

1811 Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue

An arch waggish fellow. In pickle, or in the pickling tub; in a salivation. There are rods in brine, or pickle, for him; a punishment awaits him, or is prepared for him. Pickle herring; the zany or merry andrew of a mountebank. See JACK PUDDING.

Moby Thesaurus

acid, acidulant, anhydrate, baffle, bafflement, bearings, bewilderment, bind, blast-freeze, booze up, boozify, bother, box, bread-and-butter pickle, brine, case, chokecherry, circumstance, clutch, complication, condition, confoundment, confusion, corn, corner, crab apple, crock, crunch, cure, dehydrate, desiccate, dilemma, dill pickle, discomposure, disconcert, disconcertedness, disconcertion, disconcertment, disturbance, dry, dry-cure, dry-salt, embalm, embarrassing position, embarrassment, enigma, estate, evaporate, fine how-do-you-do, fix, footing, freeze, freeze-dry, fuddle, fume, green apple, hell to pay, hobble, hole, hot water, how-do-you-do, imbroglio, irradiate, jam, jerk, kipper, lemon, lime, location, lot, marinade, marinate, mess, mix, modality, mode, morass, mummify, mystery, nonplus, overtake, parlous straits, pass, perplexity, perturbation, pinch, place, plaster, plight, pollute, position, posture, pother, predicament, preservatize, pretty pass, pretty pickle, pretty predicament, problem, puzzle, puzzlement, quagmire, quandary, quick-freeze, quicksand, rank, refrigerate, riddle, salt, scrape, season, situation, slough, smoke, smoke-cure, sour, sour balls, sour cream, sour grapes, sour pickle, sourdough, souse, spot, squeeze, standing, state, station, status, stew, sticky wicket, stone, strait, straits, stuff, swack, swamp, tight spot, tight squeeze, tightrope, tipsify, tricky spot, unassuredness, unholy mess, upset, verjuice, vinegar, yogurt