Dictionary

pousse-café en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (US) audio
• /ˌpuskæˈfeɪ/ (General-American)
• /ˌpuːskaˈfeɪ/ (Received-Pronunciation)

Etymology

From French pousse-café (literally “coffee-pusher”).

Meanings

1. A digestif consumed after the coffee course.
   • Mlle. Solange was horrified; but Barty insisted on waiting on the old gentleman in person, and helped him to his coffee and pousse‑café with all the humorous grace I can so well imagine, and handed him the Indépendance Belge, and went back to superintend the arrangements for the coming play. 1898, George du Maurier, The Martian:
2. A drink composed of several layers of different-coloured liqueurs.
   • When I go back to New York, some of my friends seem to be layered with drugs, from the top down, like a pousse-café: Rogaine on top, then Prozac, then Xanax, then Viagra. . . . 1998 August 17, Adam Gopnik, “Man Goes To See a Doctor”, in The New Yorker:

Forms

Synonyms

chasse-café