English

Noun

pot-au-feu ‎(usually uncountable, plural pot-au-feus or pots-au-feu)

1. A thick soup of meat and vegetables cooked together in a large pot.
   • 1824, Thomas Gill, The Technical Repository, page 180:

     The meat and vegetables for our pot-au-feu cost only twelve sous, or sixpence sterling — a cheap dish indeed!

2. A large cooking pot.
   • 1839, "Parisian characteristics", Bentley's Miscellany, page 203:

     The chez la portiere is its imitation, en petit; every homely subject is there discussed, from the pot au feu to another sort of pot.

Translations

French

Etymology

Compound of pot +‎ au +‎ feu, literally pot on the fire.

Pronunciation

IPA^(key): /pɔt‿o fø/

Noun

pot-au-feu m ‎(plural pots-au-feu)

1. Meat and vegetables cooked together in a large pot.
   • 1798, Nicolas-Joseph Sélis (ed), Dictionnaire de l'Académie Françoise, volume 2, page 332:

     On dit, Pot-au-feu, en parlant de la quantité de viande destinée à être mise dans le pot. (One says "pot-au-feu", in reference to the meat put into the pot.)

2. A cooking pot.
   • 11 October 1673, Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, Lettres (1646-1696):

     Je mets le pot-au-feu avec de la chicorée amère; cela bout jusqu'au point du jour. (I put the pot on the fire with bitter chicory at the break of day.)