bisque
A thick creamy soup made from fish, shellfish, meat or vegetables.
Adjective
- Of a pale pinkish brown colour.
Origin
Borrowed from French bisque, possibly from Biscaye.
Forms
Related
Noun hobbies, lifestyle
- An extra turn, free point or some other advantage allowed.
- Going round with Angus McTavish carrying your bag, she mused, was equivalent to about four bisques to the opposition. Angus McTavish was the sort of man who, just by going about looking like a frozen asset, takes all...
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A free turn in a handicap croquet match.
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A free point in a handicap real tennis match.
- Exemption from work or other duty on a particular day.
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(chiefly BBC, historical) A day's leave an employee may take without warning or reason and not be counted as annual leave.
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(British parliament) Permission for an MP to be absent from a vote, granted by the whips when the absence is not likely to affect the outcome.
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Origin
Borrowed from French bisque, of unknown origin; Émile Littré, Dictionnaire de la langue française, suggests a comparison with Spanish bisca (“gambling house, gambling den”).
Forms
Derived
Noun Entry 3
- A thick creamy soup made from fish, shellfish, meat or vegetables.
- lobster bisque
- A pale pinkish brown colour.
- A form of unglazed earthenware; biscuit.
Forms
Derived
Verb
- To prepare ceramics in the bisque style.
- I use an electric kiln strictly for bisquing my pots. - 2018, Melissa Weiss, Handbuilt, A Potter's Guide, page 147: