In the 16th century, Turkish women could divorce their husbands if the man failed to keep his family’s pot filled with coffee.
CONGEE
conge, congee
(noun) an abrupt and unceremonious dismissal
conge, congee
(noun) formal permission to depart; “he gave me his conge”
conge, congee
(noun) (architecture) a concave molding
congee, jook
(noun) a Chinese rice gruel eaten for breakfast
congee, conge
(verb) perform a ceremonious bow
congee
(verb) depart after obtaining formal permission; “He has congeed with the King”
Source: WordNet® 3.1
Etymology 1
Noun
congee (plural congees)
Leave, formal permission for some action, (originally and particularly)
(obsolete) Formal permission to leave; a passport.
(obsolete) Formal dismissal; (figurative) any dismissal; (originally & particularly humorously ironic) abrupt dismissal without ceremony.
(obsolete) Formal leavetaking; (figurative) any farewell.
(obsolete, Scottish) A fee paid to make another go away, (particularly) alms to a persistent beggar.
(archaic) A bow, curtsey, or other gesture (originally) made at departure but (later) including at greeting or in obeissance or respect.
Verb
congee (third-person singular simple present congees, present participle congeeing, simple past and past participle congeed)
(archaic) To give congee, (particularly)
(obsolete, transitive) To give formal permission to leave; to dismiss.
(obsolete, transitive) To give formal permission to do something; to license.
(archaic) To take congee: to leave ceremoniously.
(archaic) To make a congee: to bow, curtsey, etc, (particularly, dialectal) while leaving; (figuratively) to make obeissance, show respect, or defer to someone or something.
Etymology 2
Noun
congee (usually uncountable, plural congees)
(Asian cuisine) A type of thick rice porridge or soup, sometimes prepared with vegetables and/or meat.
Synonyms
• rice porridge; rice congee (hypercorrect)
• (Chinese English): porridge
Hyponyms
• (Korean, Thai contexts): jook, juk
• (Chinese contexts): zhou
Anagrams
• negoce
Source: Wiktionary
Con"gee, n. & v.
Definition: See Congé, Conge. [Obs.]
And unto her his congee came to take. Spenser.
Con*gee", n.
1. [Tamil kashi boilings.]
Definition: Boiled rice; rice gruel. [India]
2. A jail; a lockup. [India]
Congee discharges, rice water discharges. Dunglison. -- Congee water, water in which rice has been boiled.
Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition
Recent Word Finds
Word of the Day
22 February 2025
ANALYSIS
(noun) the use of closed-class words instead of inflections: e.g., ‘the father of the bride’ instead of ‘the bride’s father’
Coffee Trivia
