Dictionary

ménage en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /mɛˈnɑːʒ/ (UK)
• /meɪˈnɑːʒ/ (UK)

Etymology

Borrowed from French ménage; compare Middle English menage, a parallel borrowing from an earlier form of the French word.

Meanings

1. (collective) A household; a domestic situation.
   • It smelled of ether and something else, possibly laudanum. I had never tried the mixture but it seemed to go pretty well with the Geiger ménage. 1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep, Penguin, published 2011, page 39:
   • "Oh," cried her ladyship, "I see the whole ménage; they will take a first floor over a baker's shop, to save fire, and live upon red herrings during the week, with a mutton chop by way of meat on a Sunday." 1838 (date written), L[etitia] E[lizabeth] L[andon], chapter XIII, in Lady Anne Granard; or, Keeping up Appearances. […], volume I, London: Henry Colburn, […], published 1842, →OCLC, page 167:
2. (Scotland) A type of cooperative society whereby all members pay a regular sum of savings, or through which goods can be paid for in installments.
3. A group of people in a sexual relationship; especially, such a group that live together; the relationship itself.

Forms

Hypernyms

ROSCA

Relateds

menagerie · menial