entréen.
/ˈɒntreɪ/, /ˈɒ̃treɪ/, U.S. /ˈɑnˌtreɪ/ 1.
a. In the context of French cookery or formal dining: a dish served before the main course (usually between the soup or fish course and the roast meat course) and typically consisting of an individually plated portion containing meat, a garnish, and a sauce; a course comprising such a dish or dishes. Now often in more general use: a starter.Now not in North American use; see sense 1b.
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the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > [noun] > dish > entrée
entrée1653
middle dish1723
the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > [noun] > dish > starter
entrée1653
starter1908
the world > food and drink > food > meal > course > [noun] > entrée
entrée1653
middle dish1723
the world > food and drink > food > meal > course > [noun] > starter
entrée1653
starter1908
1653 I. D. G. tr. F. P. de la Varenne French Cook 149 (heading) A Table of the Entrees (or first courses) [Fr. entrées] of the leane dayes out of Lent.
1653 I. D. G. tr. F. P. de la Varenne French Cook 81 Cows Udder. Seeth it well, and when it is well sodden, cut it into slices, and garnish your entrees [Fr. entrées] with it.
1759 W. Verral Compl. Syst. Cookery 155 This dish [sc. mackerel broiled with fine herbs] may be served for either an entrée or hors d'œuvre, or a remove for a soup.
1777 P. Thicknesse Year's Journey France & Spain II. xlvi. 109 With my entrée came up a dish of this delicate spinnage.
1846 C. E. Francatelli Mod. Cook 255 Dish up the cutlets and fill the centre with vegetables, pour the sauce over the entrée, and serve.
1849 W. M. Thackeray Pendennis (1850) I. xxiv. 233 Two little entrées of sweet-bread and chicken.
1880 H. Thompson Food & Feeding 84 A family dinner may..consist of soup, fish, entrée, roast and sweet.
1905 A. Kenney-Herbert Common-Sense Cookery (rev. ed.) xii. 188 With many entrées and relevés the garnish is as important a part of the combination as the sauce.
1994 Francofile Mag. Autumn 68/1 A Menu Gourmand, which provides a five course meal, including entrée, two main dishes, cheese and dessert.
2017 Noosa (Queensland) News (Nexis) 24 Nov. 29 Typical lunch entrees and mains are very reasonably priced.
b. Originally U.S. The main dish of a meal, a main course.The usual sense in North American use.Originally with reference to an entrée (sense 1a) served as a main course; cf. the following:
1903 Good Housek. Mar. 266/1 The word [‘entree’] stands for a dish introduced between two courses in a formal dinner. A ‘tasty’ entree, however, with a good soup at the beginning and a nice dessert as the end, may appear in the middle of a family dinner and fill out a most satisfactory bill of fare.
1911 Boston Cooking-School Mag. Apr. 437/2 Up to within the last ten years—perhaps even a shorter time, an entrée or side dish was thought of principally as a dish served between or in conjunction with the main courses of a dinner, but now that an entrée may supplant these main courses this definition is less complete than formerly.
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the world > food and drink > food > dishes and prepared food > [noun] > dish > main dish
standarda1475
entrée1911
main dish1955
1911 San Antonio (Texas) Light 22 Dec. 15/4 I will just skip the first three courses. Just bring me whichever entree you would choose for yourself.
1917 Daily Mail 12 Oct. 5/3 A lunch costing 1s. 6d. will comprise soup, entrée or joint, sweet or cheese, and a cup of tea or coffee.
1972 Punch 5 July 10/3 The Strawberry Barrage..opens up when the entrées have been cleared away and you await the reassuring rumble of an approaching sweet-trolley.
2008 L. Simundson Miami & Florida Keys Alive! 236 Dinner entrées include broiled pork chops, liver with grilled onions and bacon,..New York strip steak with onion rings, and filet mignon.
2.
a. The action or an act of entering a place, area, building, etc.; esp. a ceremonial or formal entrance or first appearance in a place, arena, etc. Now historical.
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the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going or coming in > [noun]
ingangc900
infarea1175
entrya1325
enteringc1330
ingoing1340
incominga1382
coming ina1398
ingressionc1470
introit1481
ingate1496
entrance1528
ingredience1538
ingress1543
impassing1545
enterc1547
entral1642
entrada1648
entrata1656
introgression1656
entrée1692
adit1836
immergence1859
1692 tr. M.-C. d'Aulnoy 3rd Pt. Ingenious & Diverting Lett. xiii. 136 I thought it strange that for such usual Sights as these Entrees are, the Ladies should all be in their Balconies, in their rich Apparel, and with the same earnestness, as if it was to see the greatest King upon earth.
1776 H. Cowley Runaway i. 11 Pray have so much decency, George, to postpone your entrée till you are more composed.
1782 W. Cowper Let. 5 Jan. (1981) II. 6 My public Entrée therefore is not far distant.
1830 E. Bulwer-Lytton Paul Clifford I. viii. 148 As it was rather late in the day when Paul made his first entré at Bridewell, he passed that night in the ‘receiving-room’.
1843 Morning Star Suppl. 9 Mar. 64/1 The Governor General made his public entree into Delhi on the Sabbath.
1905 F. May Life J. Brahms II. 85 With the Fantasia on a favourite waltz the concert-giver made his first public entrée as a composer.
1985 Liechtenstein: Princely Coll. (Metrop. Mus. Art, N.Y.) ii. 164/2 The mission was..intended to demonstrate the power of the imperial house of Austria... Hence..the magnificence of the entrée into Parma.
2007 M. P. Breen Law, City, & King ii. 81 Louis XIII announced that he would make his royal entrée into Dijon in January 1629.
b. A performer's entrance on to a stage or similar arena for a performance. Formerly also = grand entree n. at grand adj., n., and adv. Compounds 2 (obsolete). Now rare.entrance n. 2c is the usual term.
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society > leisure > the arts > performance arts > [noun] > a performance > part of performance
entrée1779
finale1814
1779 Universal Mag. Dec. 296/2 A Madame Tantini made her first entrée on this stage with Mr. Slingsby, in the two last ballets.
1806 Monthly Mirror Feb. 132 Mr. Pope..reappeared in Othello, and was saluted with loud applause on his entrée.
1876 T. Frost Circus Life & Circus Celebrities 64 The first item in the programme for the opening night was an entrée of twelve, five of whom were thrown off their horses before the round of the circle had been made.
1887 Judy 13 July 16/1 This room was certainly an advantage to the theatre, as the dancers could now practice in it immediately before their entrée on the stage.
1904 F. Brinkley Japan VI. Index 298/1 Theatre..: entrée of actor.
1989 Rhythm Dec. 67/2 The Vertes eventually filtered onto the stage, but in comparison to their Reading entrée they were soberly dressed.
3. Music. A piece of instrumental music, typically of a fanfare-like character, serving as an introduction, esp. to a suite of dances; a short independent piece of music of this kind. Also: a dance serving as an introduction or an interlude in a ballet, opera, etc. Cf. entry n. 17, intrada n.
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society > leisure > the arts > music > piece of music > type of piece > [noun] > overture
overture1674
entrée1718
last music1741
sinfonia1773
concert overture1826
1718 Evening Post 15–17 July (advt.) The Entree, a new Dance, compos'd by Mr. Isaac.
1735 J. F. Lampe (title) A collection of all the aires, pastorells, chacoons, entre, jiggs, minuets and musette's in Columbine Courtezan.
1820 La Belle Assemblée June 264/2 There was, many years ago, a French dancer at the Haymarket, who composed an entrée for four furies.
1896 Sewanee Rev. 4 436 First there were the entrées the number or complexity of which does not seem to have been fixed; the persons in them were mute, acting out their characters in the dance allotted to them by the poet.
1930 C. W. Beaumont in tr. J.-G. Noverre Lett. Dancing & Ballets i. 12 An entrée is a divertissement executed by a number of dancers.
1964 F. Hall in R. Copeland & M. Cohen What is Dance? (1983) v. 391 Don Quixote, which survives in Gorsky's version of the Petipa original, is little more than a series of bravura entrées, with little relation to the Cervantes novel.
2007 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 27 Nov. e1 The scene progresses, with a supported adagio for ballerina and partner, one female pas de trois and pas de deux, and an insidious, grand ballerina solo, all framed by an entree and coda.
4. Opportunity, right, or permission to enter; access, admission; (also) spec. the privilege of admission to a royal court.
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the world > movement > motion in a certain direction > going or coming in > [noun] > power, right, or opportunity of entrance
entryc1330
accessc1384
enteringc1436
entress1447
open door1526
entrance?1552
intercourse1598
open access1602
accession1608
entrée1746
1746 Museum 12 Apr. 47 If the Learned World could be so happy as to discover a Roman's old Shoe..such Shoe would immediately have the Entrée into any Collection in Europe.
1786 Lounger (1787) II. 243 I was the only person to whom she gave the constant entrée into her boudoir.
1828 E. Bulwer-Lytton Pelham I. xxiii. 188 My mother's introductions had procured me the entrée of the best French houses.
1898 Westm. Gaz. 25 Feb. 1/1 Several papers have announced that the Queen has granted the privilege of the entrée for this afternoon's Drawing Room to..the two daughters of Lord Rosebery. As a matter of fact the wife and unmarried daughters of an ex-Cabinet Minister have the entrée for life as a matter of right. One of the entrée presentations this afternoon will be Lady Marjorie Carrington.
1966 Listener 10 Mar. 354/2 He was portraying a luxurious social life to which he had no entrée.
1985 S. Hood Storm from Paradise (1988) 53 She..was then an actress with an entrée into the intellectual society of Berlin.
2003 Elle Jan. 46/1 Her smarts and charisma won her entrée into circles where people of color were seldom allowed in the early twentieth century.
5. An introduction to a topic or field of study; an introductory book, chapter, etc. Frequently with to or into.
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society > communication > book > kind of book > textbook or book of instructions > [noun] > introductory
introductoryc1400
abecedary?a1475
institution1537
introduction1540
horn-book1609
ABC book1611
guide1617
initial1716
primer1722
prolegomenon1786
grammar1792
entrée1926
1926 Q. Rev. Biol. 1 600/1 Achard's book will serve as a mine of information for anyone who wants an entrée into the French literature on metabolism.
1953 Eng. Jrnl. 42 (advt.) Here is an entree to poetry which will arouse a wide-awake interest in and a genuine feeling for poetic expression!
1988 Nature 24 Nov. 319/1 The manual, available in book form, provides an intellectual entrée to these ideas.
1992 P. J. Fowler Past in Contemp. Soc. 179 The Penguin Guide to the Landscape of England and Wales..is an easily accessible entrée though it is not perfect.
2013 Social & Econ. Stud. 62 2 The collection opens with a brief entrée by Brian Meeks.
Compounds
C1. General attributive with the sense ‘of or relating to an entrée (sense 1)’. Recorded earliest in entrée dish n. at Compounds 2.
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1769 B. Clermont tr. Professed Cook (ed. 2) II. 292 Serve for a Second-course Dish, or to garnish any first Course, called Entrée Dish.
1882 Lima (Ohio) Daily Republican 12 Dec. Entree plates are smaller than are the meat plates.
1907 Good Housek. Dec. 700/1 If desired, the fish and entrée courses miɡht be combined by usinɡ lobster or shrimp.
1935 Oak Leaves (Oak Park, Illinois) 13 June 27/2 These large wedges add a graceful finish to..any..entree platter.
1949 Boston Sunday Globe 25 Dec. (Editorial & News Feature section) 7/7 Our entree chef will need 1 pound of sea scallops and 2 pounds of shrimp to serve 8 hearty appetites.
1985 Toronto Star (Nexis) 22 Sept. (Review section) g3 On the entree menu, the most expensive item is something called a ‘Seamelt’ for $14.95.
2005 N.Y. Mag. 7 Nov. 88/3 To justify the not-so-uptown $22 entrée prices, Lowy and Monroe have hired chef Christopher Faulkner.
2014 J. Peyton Naturally Healthy Mexican Cooking 192 For entrée portions, divide the fish and avocado into 2 portions.
C2.
entrée dish n. (a) a dish of food that serves as an entrée (sense 1); (b) a serving dish designed to hold an entrée (sense 1).
ΚΠ
1769 B. Clermont tr. Professed Cook (ed. 2) II. 292 Serve for a Second-course Dish, or to garnish any first Course, called Entrée Dish.
1846 A. Soyer Gastron. Regenerator 713 (heading) New pagodatique entrée dish.
1877 Punch 17 Nov. 222/2 The entree dishes and sweets to go to the housekeeper's room for the upper servants' supper.
1901 Connoisseur Dec. 275/2 A nice pair of Sheffield plate entrée dishes.
1992 St. Louis (Missouri) Post-Dispatch (Nexis) 19 Oct. 19 Entree dishes are in the $5-$7 range and desserts are usually $2-3.
2016 Hobart (Tasmania) Mercury (Nexis) 23 Jan. 19 A lot of people will come in and have an entree dish like the salmon gravlax for lunch.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, September 2018; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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