KETCHUP

catsup, ketchup, cetchup, tomato ketchup

(noun) thick spicy sauce made from tomatoes

Source: WordNet® 3.1

Etymology

Noun

ketchup (countable and uncountable, plural ketchups)

(uncountable) A tomato-vinegar-based sauce.

(US standard of identity) A food comprising tomato concentrate and any of vinegar, sweetener, spices, flavoring, onion, and garlic.

(countable) Such a sauce more generally (not necessarily based on tomatoes).

Usage notes

The term is now used almost exclusively to refer to tomato ketchup. However, at one time it was a more general term for sauce, and it is still occasionally used in this way, as with grape ketchup and mushroom ketchup.

The spelling ketchup became significantly preferred in the United States due to the popularity of the Heinz brand, which shortly after its introduction in 1876 switched from catsup to this spelling to distinguish itself from competitors. Other major brands, such as Hunt, subsequently followed, with Del Monte only switching to ketchup in 1988.

This condiment is more commonly and somewhat ambiguously called tomato sauce outside of the Americas. In South Africa, the word ketchup is not generally understood.

Verb

ketchup (third-person singular simple present ketchups, present participle ketchupping, simple past and past participle ketchupped)

(transitive) To cover with ketchup.

Source: Wiktionary

Ketch"up, n.

Definition: A sauce. See Catchup.

Source: Webster’s Unabridged Dictionary 1913 Edition