Definitions

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

  • noun A restaurant employee who orders and maintains the wines sold in the restaurant and usually has extensive knowledge about wine and food pairings.

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

  • noun A wine steward. The person at an expensive restaurant who keeps the wine cellar and advises guests on a choice of wines.

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

  • noun a waiter who manages wine service in a hotel or restaurant

Etymologies

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

[French, from Old French, officer in charge of provisions, pack-animal driver, alteration of *sommerier, from sommier, beast of burden, from Vulgar Latin *saumārius; see summer.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From the French sommelier

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Examples

  • The word sommelier (pronounced some-el-YAY) is derived from the Vulgar Latin word for "beast of burden," which may seem at odds with the image of a well-dressed man (or woman) proffering a wine list to a table of guests.

    May I Recommend: Lessons of Great Sommeliers Lettie Teague 2011

  • But if I did, I would be sure to throw in the word sommelier, because it does sound impressive.

    shrimp Rachel Cohn 2005

  • But if I did, I would be sure to throw in the word sommelier, because it does sound impressive.

    shrimp Rachel Cohn 2005

  • But if I did, I would be sure to throw in the word sommelier, because it does sound impressive.

    shrimp Rachel Cohn 2005

  • But if I did, I would be sure to throw in the word sommelier, because it does sound impressive.

    shrimp Rachel Cohn 2005

  • Now a sommelier is trying to break food-wine pairing down to a molecular level.

    2009 July | Dr Vino's wine blog 2009

  • Now a sommelier is trying to break food-wine pairing down to a molecular level.

    Some like it hot and high alcohol – others don’t | Dr Vino's wine blog 2009

  • The Hog filled in the other hands before he called the sommelier:

    VICTOR MOLLO’S BRIDGE CLUB VICTOR MOLLO 1979

  • The Hog filled in the other hands before he called the sommelier:

    VICTOR MOLLO’S BRIDGE CLUB VICTOR MOLLO 1979

  • The Hog filled in the other hands before he called the sommelier:

    VICTOR MOLLO’S BRIDGE CLUB VICTOR MOLLO 1979

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