malmsey
/ˈmɑ(l)mzi/
Word Rarity
Very rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 1.23 in modern English
14
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
2
Syllables
6
Unique Chars
Meaning
noun
A sweet fortified wine made in Madeira, originally from the malvasia grape.
Countable; Uncountable
Example Sentences
- "Take that, and that, if all this will not do, Stabs him. Ile drowne you in the Malmesey-But within."
- "All black wines, over-hot, compound, strong, thick drinks, as muscadine, malmsey, alicant, rumney, brown bastard, metheglin, and the like […]"
- "Hers was an idiotic sort of attachment, full of admiration for him, of voluptuousness for her, a beatitude that benumbed her; her soul sank into this drunkenness, shrivelled up, drowned in it, like Clarence in his butt of Malmsey."
Etymology
Via Middle English malmesye from Middle Dutch malemeseye, from Italian via Old French, ultimately from Ancient Greek Μονεμβασία (Monembasía, “Monemvasia”, a city on the Peloponnese), from μόνος (mónos, “only one”) + ἔμβασις (émbasis, “entering into”, ἐν- + βάσις). Doublet of malvoisie.
Origin
Word Breakdown
- Root: malmesye, malemeseye, -, Μονεμβασία
Regional Pronunciation
- American English: /ˈmɑ(l)mzi/
- British English: /ˈmɑːmzɪ/
Usage
Inflected Forms
malmseys (plural)
malmesey (alternative)