vermouth

Etymology

From French vermout, vermouth, from German Wermut (“wormwood”). Doublet of wormwood.

noun

1. A dry, or sweet apéritif wine flavored with aromatic herbs, and often used in mixed drinks.
   He gazed around until on the lid of a spinet he spotted a promising collection of bottles, gin, whiskey, vermouth and sherry, mixed with violin bows, a flute, a toppling pile of books, six volumes of Grove's Dictionary mingled with paperback thrillers, a guitar without any strings, a pair of binoculars, a meerschaum pipe and a jar half-full of wasps and apricot jam. 1956, Delano Ames, chapter 14, in Crime out of Mind
   Vermouth originated in the 18th century, when wine growers in the foothills of the French and Italian Alps developed a method of enhancing the taste of sour or uncompromising wines with the infusion of a variety of sweeteners, spices, herbs, roots, seeds, flowers, and peel. 2014, Ray Foley, Bartending For Dummies, John Wiley & Sons, page 116
   Earlier this year while in Madrid, I fell prey to what the Spanish call la hora del vermut, the vermouth hour, a break in the day for a glass, generally before eating. 2023-07-20, Eric Asimov, “This Summer, Pause for the Vermouth Hour”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
2. A serving of vermouth.