# syllabub
## English
### Alternative forms

* sillabub, sillibub, sullabub (obsolete)

### Etymology

Origin unknown; the spelling may have been influenced by the unrelated word syllable.

### Pronunciation

* (Received Pronunciation) IPA: /ˈsɪ.lə.bʌb/
** Audio (Southern England):(file)
* (General American) IPA: /ˈsɪ.ləˌbʌb/
* Hyphenation: syl‧la‧bub

### Noun

syllabub (countable and uncountable, plural syllabubs)
* A drink dating back to the 16th century consisting primarily of milk curdled with an alcoholic beverage or some acid such as lemon juice, which is usually then sweetened and spiced. [from 16th c.]
** 1731 August 23, Alexander Pope, William Roscoe, “Letter VIII. To John Knight, Esq.”, in The Works of Alexander Pope, Esq. […], volume IX, London: […] C[harles] and J[ohn] Rivington [et al.], published 1824, →OCLC, page 438:I shall yet think it a diminution to our happiness, to miss of half our companions and compotators of syllabub, not to have Mr. Newsham and his dogs, and his preceptors, and his dearly-beloved cousin, and his mathematics, and his Greek, and his horses.
** 1766, George Colman, David Garrick, The Clandestine Marriage, a Comedy. […], London: […] T. Becket and P. A. De Hondt, […]; R[oberts] Baldwin, […]; R. Davis, […]; and T[homas] Davies, […], →OCLC, Act II, scene ii, page 28:In the evening I ſhall hope for the honour of your Lordſhip's company to take a diſh of tea there, or a ſullabub warm from the cow.
** 1769, Elizabeth Raffald, “Observations on Making Decorations for a Table”, in The Experienced English House-keeper, […], Manchester: […] J. Harrop, for the author, and sold by Messrs. Fletcher and Anderson, […]; and by Eliz. Raffald, […], →OCLC, pages 183–184:Whip Syllabubs. Take a Pint of thin Cream, rub a Lump of Loaf Sugar on the Out-ſide of a Lemon, and ſweeten it to your Taſte, then put in the Juice of a Lemon, and a Glaſs of Madeira Wine, or French Brandy, mill it to a Froth with a Chocolate Mill, and take it off as it riſes, and lay it upon a Hair Sieve, then fill one half of your Poſſet Glaſſes, a little more than half full with White Wine, and the other half of your Glaſſes a little more than half full of Red Wine, then lay on your Froth as high as you can, but obſerve that it is well drained on your Sieve, or it will mix with your Wine, and ſpoil your Syllabubs.
** 1800, H. Glass [Hannah Glasse], Maria Wilson, “Syllabubs, Blanc-mange, Flummery, &c.”, in The Complete Confectioner; or, Housekeeper's Guide: To a Simple and Speedy Method of Understanding the Whole Art of Confectionary; [...], London: […] J. W. Myers, […], for West and Hughes, […], →OCLC, pages 184–185:To Make a Syllabub under the Cow. Put a bottle of either red or white wine, ale, or cyder, into a china bowl, sweeten it with sugar, and grate in some nutmeg; then hold it under the cow, and milk into it till it has a fine froth at the top; strew over it a handful of currants, clean washed and picked, and plumped before the fire. You may make this syllabub at home, by having new milk made as warm as from the cow, and pouring it out of a tea pot, or any other vessel with a spout, holding your hand very high.
** 1824, “a lady” [Maria Eliza Ketelby Rundell], “London Syllabub”, in A New System of Domestic Cookery; Formed upon Principles of Economy: and Adapted to the Use of Private Families, new edition, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 286:London Syllabub. Put a pint and a half of port or white wine into a bowl, nutmeg grated, and a good deal of sugar, then milk into it near two quarts of milk, frothed up. If the wine be not rather sharp, it will require more for this quantity of milk. In Devonshire clouted cream is put on the top, and pounded cinnamon and sugar.
** 1860 July, Thomas Hughes, “Tom Brown at Oxford. Chapter XXIII. The Englebourn Constable.”, in David Masson, editor, Macmillan's Magazine, volume II, number 9, Cambridge: Macmillan and Co. and 23, Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, →OCLC, page 211, column 2:[A]s small boys, we pelt one another and the village school-girls and our nursemaids and young lady cousins with they hay, till, hot and weary, we retire to tea or syllabub beneath the shade of some great oak or elm standing up like a monarch out of the fair pasture; […]
** 1870, “Una” [pseudonym; Mary Anne McMullen Ford], “The Departure”, in Echoes of the Past from a Retired Hamlet. A Tale Founded on Fact‎, London: Hatchards, →OCLC, page 14:[H]is kind mother, when she fancied the croquet was flagging, thought of a sillabub—and lo! in walked a meek looking cow, adorned with flowers, and furnished the party with a most fragrant and most refreshing draught.
* A dessert pudding derived from the drink. [from 16th c.]
    Synonyms: everlasting syllabub, solid syllabub
** c. 1537, Thersites; published in Joseph Haslewood, editor, Two Interludes: Jack Jugler and Thersytes, Kent: […] [A]t the private Press of Lee Priory; by John Warwick, 1820, OCLC 32861772, page 65:
    Mother by hys sonne he hathe sende me a letter / Promysynge hereafter to be to vs better / And you and I with my greate clubbe / Muste walke to him and eate a solybubbe / and we shall make merye / and synge tyrle on the berye […]
** 1800, H. Glass [Hannah Glasse], Maria Wilson, “Syllabubs, Blanc-mange, Flummery, &c.”, in The Complete Confectioner; or, Housekeeper's Guide: To a Simple and Speedy Method of Understanding the Whole Art of Confectionary; [...], London: […] J. W. Myers, […], for West and Hughes, […], →OCLC, pages 183–184:To make Everlasting Syllabubs. Take three pints of the thickest and sweetest cream you can get, a pint of rhenish, half a pint of sack, three lemons, near a pound of double refined sugar, beat and sift your sugar, and put it to the cream; grate off the yellow rind of three lemons, put that in, and squeeze the juice of the three lemons into your wine; put that to the cream, beat all together with a whisk just half an hour, then take it up all together with a spoon, and fill your glasses.
** 1824, “a lady” [Maria Eliza Ketelby Rundell], “Everlasting, or Solid, Syllabubs”, in A New System of Domestic Cookery; […], new edition, London: John Murray, […], →OCLC, page 287:Everlasting, or Solid, Syllabubs. Mix a quart of thick raw cream, one pound of refined sugar, a pint and a half of fine raisin wine, in a deep pan; put to it the grated peel and the juice of three lemons. Beat, or whisk it one way, half an hour; then put it on a sieve with a bit of muslin laid smooth in the shallow end till next day. Put it in glasses. It will keep good, in a cool place, ten days.
** 1873 December 6, “A London Pilgrimage among the Boarding-Houses. VI. An Artistic Shelter.”, in Charles Dickens, Jr., editor, All the Year Round, A Weekly Journal (New Series), volume XI, number 262, London: […] Chapman & Hall, […], published 1874, →OCLC, page 135, column 2:"Oh, I do dote on custard," remarks Mrs. Goram, with a mincing smirk, "it is such an improvement to a tart." / "I dote on syllabub," interposed Miss Jemima, sentimentally.
** 1957 November, Agatha Christie, 4.50 from Paddington, London: Published for the Crime Club by Collins, →OCLC:Mushroom soup. Curried chicken and rice. Syllabubs. A savoury of chicken livers and bacon.
* (dated, figuratively) Something lacking substance; something frothy, insubstantial, or lightweight.
** 1831 February 4, Rowland Hill, Edwin Sidney, “Letters of Mr. Rowland Hill”, in The Life of the Rev. Rowland Hill, A.M., London: Baldwin & Cradock, […], published 1834, page 367:I like Paul's plain style best. Better to feed the appetite of the hungry, than to tickle the fancies of the whimsical. This breed of preachers are apt soon to preach themselves out of breath, and come to nothing. May you and I never be the retailers of such whipt-syllabub divinity—better keep a cook's-shop to satisfy the craving appetite, than a confectioner's-shop to regale the depraved appetite of the dainty. Good brown-bread preaching is the best after all.
** 1838 November, Edgar Allan Poe, “The Psyche Zenobia”, in The American Museum of Science, Literature, and the Arts, volume I, pages 301–317:The truth is, the members indulged in too flippant a tone of discussion. The papers read every Saturday evening were characterized less by depth than buffoonery. They were all whipped syllabub. There was no investigation of first causes, first principles. There was no investigation of anything at all.

#### Derived terms

* everlasting syllabub
* solid syllabub

### Further reading

* syllabub on Wikipedia.Wikipedia