Mazarine
adj, noun ·Rare ·Advanced level
Definitions
- 1 A dark blue color. countable, uncountable
- 2 A forcemeat entrée.
"An hour before dinnertime, steam the mazarine in the usual way, and when done, turn it out of the mould on its dish […]"
- 3 The platform beneath the stage in a large theater.
- 1 Of a dark blue color. not-comparable
- 2 Of or relating to Cardinal Mazarin (Giulio Raimondo Mazzarino; 1602–1661), Italian Catholic cardinal, diplomat, and politician.
"the Mazarine Library"
Example
More examples"An hour before dinnertime, steam the mazarine in the usual way, and when done, turn it out of the mould on its dish […]"
Etymology
Perhaps from the name either of Cardinal Mazarin or of the Duchesse de Mazarin, but the Oxford English Dictionary states that the evidence is lacking and that it is not found in French dictionaries.
Of obscure history. The Oxford English Dictionary notes that “Phillips 1706 mentions a phrase à la mazarine (not given by Fr[ench] lexicographers), used to designate a particular mode of dressing fowls, and possibly f[rom] the name of Cardinal Mazarin (died 1662) prime minister of France, or of the Duchesse de Mazarin, who died at Chelsea in 1699.”
Perhaps a corruption of mezzanine.