sillibub

Noun

syllabub (countable and uncountable, plural syllabubs)

1. A drink dating back to the 16th century consisting primarily of milk curdled with an alcoholic beverage or some acid such as lemon juice, which is usually then sweetened and spiced.
   • I shall yet think it a diminution to our happiness, to miss of half our companions and compotators of syllabub, not to have Mr. Newsham and his dogs, and his preceptors, and his dearly-beloved cousin, and his mathematics, and his Greek, and his horses.1731 August 23, Alexander Pope, William Roscoe, “Letter VIII. To John Knight, Esq.”, in The Works of Alexander Pope, Esq. […], volume IX, London: […] C[harles] and J[ohn] Rivington [et al.]...
2. A dessert pudding derived from the drink.
   • Mother by hys sonne he hathe sende me a letter / Promysynge hereafter to be to vs better / And you and I with my greate clubbe / Muste walke to him and eate a solybubbe / and we shall make merye / and synge tyrle on the berye […]c. 1537, Thersites; published in Joseph Haslewood, editor, Two Interludes: Jack Jugler and Thersytes, Kent: […] [A]t the private Press of Lee Priory; by John Warwick, 1820, OCLC 32861772, page 65

   Synonyms:

   everlasting syllabub, solid syllabub

3. (dated, figuratively) Something lacking substance; something frothy, insubstantial, or lightweight.
   • I like Paul's plain style best. Better to feed the appetite of the hungry, than to tickle the fancies of the whimsical. This breed of preachers are apt soon to preach themselves out of breath, and come to nothing. May you and I never be the retailers of such whipt-syllabub divinity—better keep a...1831 February 4, Rowland Hill, Edwin Sidney, “Letters of Mr. Rowland Hill”, in The Life of the Rev. Rowland Hill, A.M., London: Baldwin & Cradock, […], published 1834, page 367