garnish
/ˈɡɑːnɪʃ
/verb [with object]
1Decorate or embellish (something, especially food): garnish each serving with a dollop of sour cream...
- Instead, garnish food with one tablespoon of chopped nuts per person.
- Thick bracelets of sweet-and-sour sautéed Spanish onion garnish the meat.
- English South Africans like to garnish their food with chutney (pickled relish).
Synonyms
decorate, adorn, trim, dress, ornament, embellish, enhance, grace, beautify, prettify, brighten up, set off, add the finishing touch to
informal jazz up
2 Law Serve notice on (a third party) for the purpose of legally seizing money belonging to a debtor or defendant.He told me hes gotten this type of call before over the years regarding this situation and they never garnish him.
2.1Seize (money, especially part of a person’s salary) to settle a debt or claim: the IRS garnished his earnings...
- It may also be true, as he submitted, that there is no reported case where this discretion has been exercised so as to garnish a debt which is only recoverable outside the jurisdiction.
- McDermott had been upset about an Internal Revenue Service request to garnish his wages for back taxes.
- Alas, when his connection retired, replaced by an ANC hardliner, she got the sack, and the government garnished his salary to pay back the treasury.
noun
A small amount of food used to decorate other food: reserve a few watercress leaves for a garnish [mass noun]: some flowers are edible and make attractive salad garnish...
- Ann had a jacket potato and baked beans with a salad garnish and coleslaw.
- They are used mainly in the cooking of C. and N. Europe, and are at their best in mild, creamy sauces and egg dishes, or as a garnish for soups and salads.
- On the second channel a celebrity chef added the finishing garnish to a savoury dish.
Synonyms
decoration, adornment, trim, trimming, ornament, ornamentation, embellishment, enhancement, beautification, finishing touch
rare garniture
Origin
Middle English (in the sense 'equip, arm'): from Old French garnir, probably of Germanic origin and related to warn. sense 1 of the verb dates from the late 17th century.
Nowadays you might garnish a plate of food with a sprig of parsley which seems a far cry from what the word meant in the Middle Ages, ‘to equip or arm yourself’. Over time the sequence of meanings evolved like this: ‘to equip or arm yourself’, ‘to fit out with something’, ‘to decorate or embellish’, and finally ‘to decorate a dish of food for the table’. The source is Old French garnir (also the root of garment (Middle English)), which meant both ‘to fortify or defend’, and ‘to provide, equip, or prepare’.