dessert
Other forms: desserts
Served as the last course of a meal, a dessert is often sweet, like cake or pie. If you have a sweet tooth, you may wish it were the only course of the meal.
The word dessert originates from an interesting French word, desservir, which actually means "to clear the table." After the dinner dishes are removed, the host brings out the dessert. These days, desserts don't always have to be a sweet course, but can instead be a savory or a cheese course. Other offbeat treats include Vidalia onion ice cream and radish pie.
Definitions of dessert
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a dish served as the last course of a mealtypes:ambrosiaa dessert made of various fruits and often topped with shredded coconut (sometimes includes marshmallows)baked Alaskacake covered with ice cream and meringue browned quickly in an ovenblancmangesweet almond-flavored milk pudding thickened with gelatin or cornstarch; usually moldedcharlottea mold lined with cake or crumbs and filled with fruit or whipped cream or custarddumplingdessert made by baking fruit wrapped in pastryflana sweet, baked custard topped with caramel, popular in Latin American cuisinefrozen dessertany of various desserts prepared by freezingjunketdessert made of sweetened milk coagulated with rennetmoussea rich, frothy, creamy dessert made with whipped egg whites and heavy creampavlovaa dessert consisting of a meringue base or cup filled with fruit and whipped creampeach melbaice cream and peaches with a liqueurwhipa dessert made of sugar and stiffly beaten egg whites or cream and usually flavored with fruitpuddingany of various soft sweet desserts thickened usually with flour and baked or boiled or steamedtiramisuan Italian dessert consisting of layers of sponge cake soaked with coffee and brandy or liqueur layered with mascarpone cheese and topped with grated chocolateprune whipdessert made of prune puree and whipped creamtriflea cold pudding made of layers of sponge cake spread with fruit or jelly; may be decorated with nuts, cream, or chocolatecharlotte russelady fingers enclosing Bavarian creamapple dumplingapples wrapped in pastry and bakedice-cream coneice cream in a crisp conical wafersherbert, sherbeta frozen dessert made primarily of fruit juice and sugar, but also containing milk or egg-white or gelatinice milksimilar to ice cream but made of milkfrozen yogurta soft frozen dessert of sweetened flavored yogurtsnowballball of crushed ice with fruit syrupsnowballball of ice cream covered with coconut and usually chocolate sauceparfaitlayers of ice cream and syrup and whipped creamsplita dessert of sliced fruit and ice cream covered with whipped cream and cherries and nutsfrozen puddinga chilled dessert consisting of a mixture of custard and nuts and (sometimes) liquorflummerya bland custard or pudding especially of oatmealchocolate moussedessert mousse made with chocolatesteamed puddinga pudding cooked by steamingduff, plum duffa stiff flour pudding steamed or boiled usually and containing e.g. currants and raisins and citronvanilla puddingsweet vanilla flavored custard-like pudding usually thickened with flour rather than eggschocolate puddingsweet chocolate flavored custard-like pudding usually thickened with flour rather than eggsbrown Bettybaked pudding of apples and breadcrumbsNesselrode, Nesselrode puddinga rich frozen pudding made of chopped chestnuts and maraschino cherries and candied fruits and liqueur or rumpease puddinga pudding made with strained split peas mixed with eggtapioca puddingsweet pudding thickened with tapiocaroly-poly, roly-poly puddingpudding made of suet pastry spread with jam or fruit and rolled up and baked or steamedsuet puddinga sweet or savory pudding made with suet and steamed or boiledtype of:coursepart of a meal served at one time
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Commonly confused words
desert / dessert
A desert is a hot and dry place like the Sahara, but add an s and some whipped cream and you have a dessert, a sweet treat to eat. Dessert has two s's because you always want two. (If you prefer two arid ecosystems, that's on you.)
Word Family
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