pousse-café

English

Etymology

From French pousse-café (literally “coffee-pusher”).

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˌpuːskaˈfeɪ/
• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˌpuskæˈfeɪ/

• Audio (US):

  (file)

• Rhymes: -eɪ

Noun

pousse-café (plural pousse-cafés)

1. A digestif consumed after the coffee course.

   Synonym: chasse-café

   • 1898, George du Maurier, The Martian‎^[1]:

     Mlle. Solange was horrified; but Barty insisted on waiting on the old gentleman in person, and helped him to his coffee and pousse‑café with all the humorous grace I can so well imagine, and handed him the Indépendance Belge, and went back to superintend the arrangements for the coming play.

2. A drink composed of several layers of different-coloured liqueurs.
   • 1998 August 17, Adam Gopnik, “Man Goes To See a Doctor”, in The New Yorker‎^[2]:

     When I go back to New York, some of my friends seem to be layered with drugs, from the top down, like a pousse-café: Rogaine on top, then Prozac, then Xanax, then Viagra. . . .

Translations

digestif consumed after coffee — see chasse-café

French

Etymology

Literally, “coffee-pusher”, from pousse (“push”, 2nd person singular imperative of pousser) +‎ café (“coffee”). Compare Italian ammazzacaffè (literally “coffee-killer”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /pus.ka.fe/

• Audio:

  (file)

• Rhymes: -e

Noun

pousse-café m (plural pousse-café or pousse-cafés)

1. (informal) chasse-café, pousse-café (small glass of alcohol after coffee)

   Synonym: (archaic, rare) chasse-café

Further reading

• “pousse-café”, in Trésor de la langue française informatisé [Digitized Treasury of the French Language], 2012.