Dictionary

fruitcakey en · ADJ

Etymology

From fruitcake + -y.

Meanings

1. Resembling or characteristic of fruitcake.
   • I often see this dish served with St Emilion, perhaps partly because ‘beef Wellington’ and ‘St Emilion’ are phrases that have immense celebratory menu appeal – you can just feel Christmas and festivities around the corner. The two do go well together. The slightly fruitcakey right-bank bordeaux has a richness that marries well with the rich food. 2017, Victoria Moore, The Wine Dine Dictionary: Good Food and Good Wine: An A–Z of Suggestions for Happy Eating and Drinking, London: Granta Books, →ISBN:
   • Ichiro’s Card Series Ace of Diamonds Hanyu 1986 cream sherry butt finish, cask no. 9023, dist 86, bott 08 (94.5) n24 pretty sound sherry: deep, fruitcakey and well spiced; that would normally be enough, but there is a distinct bourbon sub plot here; […] 2009, Jim Murray, Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible 2010, Dram Good Books, →ISBN, page 310:
   • Having established his brewery in Camden in 2012, Stu Small relocated 200 miles up the East Coast Mainline to York in 2014. So far I’ve only managed to find his Porter (5%) but as a yardstick for the others, this is a big fruitcakey, malty, plummy, roasty, chocolatey triumph. 2017, Simon Jenkins, The Yorkshire Beer Bible: A Drinker’s Guide to the Brewers, Beers and Pubs of God’s Own Country, Bradford: Great Northern Books Limited, →ISBN, page 104:
   • Even in the most basic St.-Émilions the ripe, spicy-juiciness of the Merlot grape should be supported by the firmness and finesse of the Cabernet Franc. The great châteaux achieve this superbly: they are full, rich, and concentrated, chocolaty and fruitcakey. 2007, Tom Stevenson, The Sotheby’s Wine Encyclopedia, 4th edition, Dorling Kindersley, →ISBN, page 110:
   • Sweet oak is mixed in with a sympathetic hand, and the palate follows with plenty of ripe fruitcakey flavour that’s smooth and the ripe tannins are reasonably easy on the gums. 2002, Huon Hooke, Ralph Kyte-Powell, The Penguin Good Australian Wine Guide 2002/2003, Penguin Books, →ISBN, page 212:
   • Russian or Imperial stout, originally brewed in London in the 18th century, is a rich, intense, fruitcakey brew. 2004, Stuart Walton, The Bartender’s Guide to Cocktails & Mixed Drinks: A Complete Encyclopedia of Spirits, Liqueurs, Wine, Beer and Mixers with Instructions for Making 600 Drinks, New York, N.Y.: Barnes & Noble Books, →ISBN, page 80:
   • Rich and fruity but light in body with plenty of rich fruitcakey flavors, toffee, and chocolate raisins. 2015, Joe Clark, Stuart Derrick, The Ultimate Book of Whiskey: Over 300 Single Malts, Blends, Bourbons and Ryes from Around the World, Parragon, →ISBN, page 99:
   • What to drink? To continue with those dark, fruitcakey winter beers at this moment seems like an admission of defeat. Something more optimistic is called for. 2015, Randy Mosher, Beer for All Seasons: A Through-the-Year Guide to What to Drink and When to Drink It, North Adams, Mass.: Storey Publishing, →ISBN, page 169:
2. (colloquial, derogatory) Crazy or eccentric.
   • Nobody dressed like that underway. Yeah, it was what he’d been wearing when the Romans threw him back like a dead carp, but Commander Bright had been given normal clothes his size back on the Mack. And he’d been wearing ’em. Looked really fruitcakey here in all his geegaws. 2006, R[ebecca] M. Meluch, Wolf Star (Tour of the Merrimack; 2), New York, N.Y.: DAW Books, Inc., →ISBN, pages 76–77:
   • The reason there was never a Jerry Lee Lewis–type scandal, the columnist suggested, was that Jerry Lee and Elvis were “very different people. Jerry Lee Lewis always had a public persona of being a very wild, crazy, nutty, fruitcakey kind of guy.[…]” 1997, Suzanne Finstad, Child Bride: The Untold Story of Priscilla Beaulieu Presley, New York, N.Y.: Harmony Books, →ISBN, page 166:
   • Nikki turned to Karin. Her cousin had de-masked, as well, and Karin’s hair winged around her head in fly-away strands. She looked like a poster child for victims of pantyhose static. / How fruitcakey. No wonder Alex seemed kinda anxious. 2013, Cindy Procter-King, Borrowing Alex, Anstey, Leics: Linford, F. A. Thorpe (Publishing), published 2015, →ISBN, page 29:
   • Not to be confused with the fruitcakey world of John Waters’s movies or the sentimental place depicted in the work of Barry Levinson, The Wire’s Baltimore is a city in its death throes, fighting to hang on to its very soul. 2009, Jon Wilde, “Nine reasons why The Wire is the greatest”, in Steve Busfield, Paul Owen, editors, The Wire Re-Up: The Guardian Guide to the Greatest TV Show Ever Made, London: Guardian Books, →ISBN, page 5:
   • Andrew realised his mistake. He thought by playing up the hush-hush thing, he’d appeal to Gloria’s gossipy side. What he’d actually done was encourage the fruitcakey side to come to the fore. 2014, Kerry Wilkinson, Something Wicked, London: Pan Books, published 2015, →ISBN, page 84:
   • During our conversation, one side of my brain listened to him while the other side, the side that tends to be fruitcakey, tried to make my daughter's life smooth and problem-free via mental telepathy, which is cosmic insanity, not to mention impossible. 2007, Nancy Kennedy, Lipstick Grace, Colorado Springs, Colo.: Multnomah Books, Random House, Inc., →ISBN, page 124:
   • The production alone is a backhand smack in the gums, and the formula of the songs doesn’t stray too far from those on the Arrested EP, but manages to be more neurotic, insane and yet more melodic. Not poppy or anything fruitcakey like that, but more like un-stop-singable. 2009 summer, Standard Issue, number 8, page twenty eight, column 3:
   • And I’m nuts? I’m abusive? Just image. / But. (There’s always a “but,” isn’t there?) We slap someone into a category and as consistently fruitcakey as they seem to be, the envelope tears. 2013, Stuart Omans, “Eve Transformed”, in Ol’ Man on a Mountain: A Memoir, →ISBN, page 171:
   • He might not have been as fruitcakey as me and imagined seeing fairies, but after the whole Rachel scare, he’d looked sort of spaced. 2004, Karen McCombie, “Splasharama”, in Meet the Real World, Rachel (Stella Etc.), London: Scholastic, →ISBN, page 35:

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