/ˈɡɹeɪvi/
OriginFrom Middle English gravey, greavie, gravy; probably from greaves, graves (“the sediment of melted tallow”), or from Old French grave, a claimed misspelling of grané (“stew, spice”), from grain (“spice”).
Sense of "pasta sauce" apparently seems to be from Italian dialect, especially Calabrian, differentiating tomato puree (salsa (“sauce”)) from cooked tomato sauce (sugo).
- countable, uncountable, usuallyA dark savoury sauce prepared from stock and usually meat juices; brown gravy.
“A roast dinner isn't complete without gravy.”
- Southern-US, countable, uncountable, usuallyA pale sauce prepared from a roux with meat fat; a type of béchamel sauce.
“There are few foods more Southern than biscuits and gravy.”
- uncountable, usuallySauce used for pasta.
- India, Singapore, uncountable, usuallyCurry sauce.
“With this the hostess poured two or three spoonfuls of the gravy of the curry on to the rice opposite to each person.”
“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.”
“This is strained with a piece of cloth or a strainer and the green liquid forms the gravy of the curry.”
- informal, uncountable, usuallyUnearned gain; extra benefit.
“The first thousand tickets and the concessions cover the venue and the band. The rest is gravy.”
- To make gravy.
“I mean simply this — that the process of canning and preserving or of gravying and saucing frequently removes the most vitally essential acids and salts […]”
“Dola and another woman were so busy frying and grilling and buttering and gravying that they didn't even notice Bruce's existence.”
Formsgravies(plural) · gravies(present, singular, third-person) · gravying(participle, present) · gravied(participle, past) · gravied(past)