champagne

Etymology

Borrowed from French champagne (“sparkling wine from the Champagne region”), from Champagne (“region and former province of France”), from Late Latin campānia (in full Campānia Rēmēnsis), from campāneus (“of or pertaining to the fields”), from Latin campus (“level ground; field, plain”), from Proto-Indo-European *kh₂emp- (“to bend, curve”). The English word is a doublet of campagna (“flat stretch of countryside”) (dated), campaign, and campania.

noun

1. (countable, uncountable) A sparkling white wine made from a blend of grapes, especially Chardonnay and pinot, produced in Champagne, France, by the méthode champenoise.
   We suppose that this author has done his best to be satirical; and he may have thought that his subject would have inspired him with all that was smart and piquant: but the plain truth is that the promised champagne turns out to be vapid small beer. 1809 April, “Art. 37. Military Promotions; or the Duke and His Dulcinea. A Satirical Poem. 4to. 2s. 6d. Richardson. [book review]”, in The Monthly Review; or, Literary Journal, Enlarged, volume LVIII, London: Sold by T[homas] Becket,[…], →OCLC, page 439
   [T]he women will wear cashmeres, and then men will drink champagne. 1827, Francis Herbert [pseudonym; William Cullen Bryant, Robert Charles Sands, and Gulian Crommelin Verplanck], “The Legend of the Devil’s Pulpit”, in The Talisman for MDCCCXXVIII, New York, N.Y.: Elam Bliss,[…], →OCLC, page 284
   Champagne wine, with its amber hue, it éclat, its sparkle, and its perfume, arouses the senses and produces a cheerfulness which flashes through the company like a spark of electricity. At the magic word, Champagne! the guests, dull and torpid with good feeding, awake at once. 1867, Robert Tomes, chapter XV, in The Champagne Country, New York, N.Y.: Published by [Melancthon M.] Hurd and [Henry Oscar] Houghton,[…], →OCLC, page 173
   The principal difference between champagnes and sparkling hocks designed for the English market consists in the former being made almost exclusively from red grapes, pressed immediately they are gathered, and not allowed to ferment in their skins, while the latter are made from white grapes alone. The finest champagnes come from the pineau noir, or black Burgundy grape, while the best sparkling hocks are made from the Riesling, […] 8 January 1875, “Sparkling Hock”, in The Pall Mall Budget:[…], volume XIII, London: [s.n.][…], →OCLC, page 14, column 2
   Served throughout the meal are sherries, red wines, champagnes, and brandies. 20 May 1988, Daniel Santow, “Restaurant tours: You loved the movie, now eat the dinner”, in Chicago Reader, archived from the original on 2018-07-15
   As with a solo cello, a single-vineyard champagne highlights the virtuosity of the performer (whether it's the producer or the site). A vintage champagne demonstrates the singular personality of the year, while a great blended champagne such as Krug's Grand Cuvée expresses a multifaceted, encompassing experience akin to the London Symphony Orchestra playing [Pyotr Ilyich] Tchaikovsky's Symphony no. 6, leveraging its components to create something larger than each of them represents individually. 2017, Peter Liem, Kate Leahy, “The Primacy of Place”, in Champagne: The Essential Guide to the Wines, Producers, and Terroirs of the Iconic Region, Calif., N.Y.: Ten Speed Press, part 1 (Understanding Champagne), page 11
2. (countable, uncountable, informal) Any sparkling wine made by the méthode champenoise.
   Of the Reims mountain wines, those of Verzi, Verzenay, Mailli, Bouzy, and St. Basle, are most esteemed; but the Clos St. Thierry furnishes perhaps the finest red Champagne. The name Jolly champagne, under which, at present, a large quantity of the best champagne is sold in the U[nited] States, does not originate from a place in Champagne, but from an owner of extensive vineyards in that province, who exports much champagne to the U. States. 1830, “Champagne”, in Francis Lieber, E. Wigglesworth, editors, Encyclopædia Americana.[…], volume III, Philadelphia, Pa.: [Edward Lawrence] Carey & [Abraham] Lea…, →OCLC, page 58, column 1
   Great Western Champagne […] Produced by the old French slow method of fermentation in the bottle taking from six to seven years of time. Great Western is the Only American Champagne ever awarded a Gold Medal at Foreign Expositions. […] Oldest and largest producers of Champagne in America. 1915 May, “Great Western Champagne [advertisement]”, in Frank Crowninshield, editor, Vanity Fair, volume 4, number 3, New York, N.Y.: Vanity Fair Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 96
3. (countable, uncountable, informal) Any sparkling white wine.
4. (countable) A glass of champagne.
   "I'm not scared of needles, but I certainly don’t like them," she says. "I had a champagne en route to the clinic – maybe two – which I'd probably not recommended, but whatever works, right?[…]" 11 April 2017, Paul Ewart, quoting Christa Billich, “Fifteen Years on, what Long-term Botox Use Looks Like”, in News.com.au, archived from the original on 2017-12-29
5. (countable) A very pale brownish-gold colour, similar to that of champagne.
   champagne:
   Suede Leather Hat, in gray, champagne, rose or blue, flower-trimmed. 1915 February, “Franklin Simon & Co. [advertisement]”, in Frank Crowninshield, editor, Vanity Fair, volume 3, number 6, New York, N.Y.: Vanity Fair Publishing Company, →OCLC, page 3
6. (heraldry) (An ordinary occupying) the base of the shield, either flat-topped (like the chief at the top of the shield) or curved (as in a mount or trimount).
   Alternative forms: champaine, champain
   Coordinate term: terrace
   Two rows of Vair, on a champagne gules an open crown or (both 2 and 3 for CRONBERG). 1892, John Woodward, George Burnett, A Treatise on Heraldry, British and Foreign: With English and French Glossaries, page 489
   […] on a champagne in base gules a wyvern, wings expanded or (for Vandalia); on the centre of the cross a quartered shield:[…] 1915, Guy Cadogan Rothery, A. B. C. of Heraldry, page 277

adj

1. Of a very pale brownish-gold colour, similar to that of champagne.
   This is the year! With champagne colors the thing on the fashion scene, Clairol is popping the corks on 4 new Champagne Blondes^®! […] Clairol's Creme Toner is your choice of Champagne color. 14 September 1962, “The Champagne Blondes, Vintage ’62: (Go On … Live a Little!) [advertisement]”, in Henry R[obinson] Luce, editor, Life, volume 53, number 11, Chicago, Ill., New York, N.Y.: Time Inc., →ISSN, →OCLC, page 95
   champagne:
2. (heraldry) Alternative form of champaine
   A Point Dexter parted, A Point Champagne, A Point plain, A Point in Point, […] 1726, John Guillim, The banner display'd: or, An abridgment of Guillim by S. Kent, page 31

verb

1. (transitive) To ply or treat with champagne.
   And equally, the central matter of Henry's infidelities has no actual dramatisation, so that we never see him coming out of a stage door with a Follies girl on his arm, or champagning a debutante, let alone entering a boudoir. 1989, Bruce Babington, Peter William Evans, “‘The Love Parade’: Lubitsch and Romantic Comedy”, in Affairs to Remember: The Hollywood Comedy of the Sexes, Manchester, New York, N.Y.: Manchester University Press, page 88
2. (intransitive) To drink champagne.
   We clareted and champagned till two—then supped, and finished with a kind of regency punch composed of madeira, brandy, and green tea, no real water being admitted therein. 9 April 1814, Lord Byron, Thomas Moore, “Letter CLXXIV. To Mr. Moore.”, in Letters and Journals of Lord Byron: With Notices of His Life, by Thomas Moore. In Two Volumes, volume I, London: John Murray,[…], published 1830, →OCLC, page 540
   On one occasion, I was at a meeting of the turf in an hotel after the races, where violent discussions and heavy champagning were going on. 1846, Richard Henry Bonnycastle, “Emigrants and Immigration”, in Canada and the Canadians, in 1846. … In Two Volumes, volume I, London: Henry Colburn, publisher,[…], →OCLC, page 34