English

Noun

gravy ‎(usually uncountable, plural gravies)

Poutine, a Canadian dish of French fries, curds and gravy.

Biscuits and gravy, a popular meal in the American South.

1. (uncountable) A thick sauce made from the fat or juices that come out from meat or vegetables as they are being cooked.
   1. (Britain, Canada) A dark savoury sauce prepared from stock and usually meat juices; brown gravy.

      A roast dinner isn't complete without gravy.‎

   2. (Southern US) A pale sauce prepared from a roux with meat fat; a type of béchamel sauce

      There are few foods more Southern than biscuits and gravy.‎

2. (countable) A type of gravy.
3. (uncountable, Italian-American) Sauce used for pasta.
4. (uncountable, India, Singapore) Curry sauce.
   • 1879, The Sunday at Home, Volume 26, page 342:

     With this the hostess poured two or three spoonfuls of the gravy of the curry on to the rice opposite to each person.

   • 1906, Malayan Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, "Pa Senik and his Son-in-Law Awang", Journal of the Straits Branch of the Royal Asiatic Society, page 59-60:

     Now it seems that Pa Senik was a little deaf. Awang noticed that his father-in-law sometimes poured the gravy of his curry on his rice and that sometimes he sucked it up.

   • 1992, Khammān Khonkhai, The Teachers of Mad Dog Swamp

     This is strained with a piece of cloth or a strainer and the green liquid forms the gravy of the curry.

   • 2007, Geok Boi Lee, Classic Asian Noodles, Marshall Cavendish (ISBN 9789812613356), page 158

     Return flaked fish to curry gravy and bring to the boil.

5. (uncountable) Unearned gain.
6. (uncountable) Extra benefit.

   The first thousand tickets and the concessions cover the venue and the band. The rest is gravy.

Quotations

For usage examples of this term, see Citations:gravy.

Derived terms

• good gravy
• gravy boat
• gravy train

Translations

See also

• sauce

References

• gravy in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913