pickle

Definition

A cucumber preserved in a solution, usually a brine or a vinegar syrup.

Etymology

From Middle English pikel (“spicy sauce served with meat or fish”), borrowed from Middle Dutch, Middle Low German pekel (“brine”). Cognate with Scots pikkill (“salt liquor, brine”), Saterland Frisian Piekele (“pickle, brine”), Dutch pekel (“pickle, brine”), Low German pekel, peckel, pickel, bickel (“pickle, brine”), German Pökel (“pickle, brine”), Icelandic pækill (“brine”).

Example Sentences

• "A pickle goes well with a hamburger."
• "This tub is filled with the pickle that we will put the small cucumbers into."
• "The climber found himself in a pickle when one of the rocks broke off."

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