junket

Definition

A basket.

Etymology

From Middle English jonket (“basket made of rushes”), from Medieval Latin iuncta, possibly from Latin iuncus (“rush, reed”) and therefore a possible doublet of jonquil. Meaning shifted to “feast or banquet” by 1520s, probably via the notion of a picnic basket. This in turn led to the sense of “pleasure trip” (1814), and then to specifically to “trip made ostensibly for business but which entails merrymaking or entertainment” by 1886 in American English.

Example Sentences

• "I love your meads, and I love your flowers, / And I love your junkets mainly […]."
• "The Sunday ended in gloom, which even junket for supper in the blue Dresden bowl could hardly lighten at all."
• "[…] though bride and bridegroom wants For to supply the places at the table, You know there wants no junkets at the feast."