cocktails

Noun

cocktail (plural cocktails, abbreviation ckt)

1. A mixed alcoholic beverage.
   • They visited a bar noted for its wide range of cocktails.

   Synonyms:

   mixed drink

2. (broadly, figuratively) A mixture of other substances or things.
   • Scientists found a cocktail of pollutants in the river downstream from the chemical factory.

   Synonyms:

   bouillabaisse, bric-a-brac, catch-all, clamjamfrey, rummage, salad, anthology, gallery, gatherum, congeries

3. A horse, not of pure breed, but having only one eighth or one sixteenth impure blood in its veins.
   • A “cock-tail” is a horse not purely bred, but with only one-eighth or one-sixteenth impure blood in his veins1868, Charles Darwin, The Variation of Animals and Plants Under Domestication, volume ii, John Murray, page 11
4. (UK, dated, slang) A mean, half-hearted fellow.
   • It was in the second affair that poor little Barney showed he was a cocktail.1854, Arthur Pendennis [pseudonym; William Makepeace Thackeray], The Newcomes: Memoirs of a Most Respectable Family, volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], →OCLC

   Synonyms:

   coward

5. A species of rove beetle, so called from its habit of elevating the tail.

See all 8 meanings of cocktail