Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A mint julep.
  • noun A sweet syrupy drink, especially one to which medicine can be added.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A sweet drink; a demulcent, acidulous, or mucilaginous mixture.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun (Med.) A refreshing drink flavored with aromatic herbs.
  • noun U.S. An alcoholic beverage composed of brandy, whisky, or some other spirituous liquor, with sugar, pounded ice, and sprigs of mint; -- called also mint julep.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A refreshing drink flavored with aromatic herbs, especially mint.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun bourbon and sugar and mint over crushed ice

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, a sugar syrup, from Old French, from Medieval Latin, from Arabic julāb, from Persian gulāb, rosewater : gul, rose (from Middle Persian, from Old Iranian *wr̥da-; akin to Greek rhodon from earlier *wrodon) + āb, water (from Middle Persian, from Old Iranian *āp-, ap-; akin to Sanskrit āpas, waters).]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Persian گلاب (golâb).

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Examples

  • "It is for what you call a julep-cocktail," she replied gravely.

    The Crusade of the Excelsior Bret Harte 1869

  • The classic Derby drink is the mint julep, which is made with bourbon and a lot of sugar.

    The Skinnygirl Dish BETHENNY FRANKEL 2010

  • The classic Derby drink is the mint julep, which is made with bourbon and a lot of sugar.

    The Skinnygirl Dish BETHENNY FRANKEL 2010

  • As the mint and one or two other necessary ingredients were lacking to our family stores, the idea of julep was dismissed as a vain dream, and its place supplied by iced Congress water, a liquid which my cousin characterized, in a hasty aside to me, as being a drink fit only for imbecile infants of a tender age.

    The Queen of Sheba & My Cousin the Colonel Thomas Bailey Aldrich 1871

  • With me, at least, gratitude for repeated refreshment shall long keep your memory green -- green as the mint-sprays that, when your last "julep" is mingled, should surely be strewn, unsparingly, on your grave.

    Border and Bastille 1851

  • I did not have the courage to order the spaghetti-squash-and-grilled-tofu entrée, but I can report that the funky-tasting lamb "julep"

    unknown title 2009

  • I did not have the courage to order the spaghetti-squash-and-grilled-tofu entrée, but I can report that the funky-tasting lamb "julep"

    unknown title 2009

  • A 'cobbler,' or a 'julep' has lost its attractions; but get up some new name for an old compound, and you go all before the wind again. "

    The Lights and Shadows of Real Life 1847

  • Photographs by Caroline Allison for The Wall Street Journal The Comfy Cow: Ice cream flavors like mint julep at Derby time and a Georgia butter pecan with chocolate chips and a splash of Old Forrester bourbon make this retro-soda fountain a local hot spot.

    My Old Kentucky Home 2011

  • The Comfy Cow: Ice cream flavors like mint julep at Derby time and a Georgia butter pecan with chocolate chips and a splash of Old Forrester bourbon make this retro-soda fountain a local hot spot. thecomfycow.com

    Days at the Races 2011

Comments

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  • And first behold this cordial Julep here

    That flames, and dances in his crystal bounds

    With spirits of balm, and fragrant Syrops mixt.

    Milton, Comus

    December 16, 2006

  • from Persian gulab (rose(gul)-water(ab))

    August 30, 2009

  • "The Arabs introduced new exotics unknown to the classical world, especially ambergris and other perfume-like ingredients. They developed new techniques of preparing medicines, including the use of sugar and the concoction of syrups, juleps (both words of Arabic derivation), comfits, and electuaries. Islamic science also advanced the cause of the humoral theories in what has been called a 'new Galenic revolution.' Some 300 medical texts were translated from Arabic into Latin in the course of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries."

    Paul Freedman, Out of the East: Spices and the Medieval Imagination (New Haven and London: Yale UP, 2008), 63

    November 28, 2017