Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A combination of incongruous things.
- noun A miscellaneous anthology or collection.
- noun A mixture of dried flower petals and spices used to scent the air.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun A dish of different kinds of meat and vegetables cooked together; a stew.
- noun Hence A miscellaneous collection; a medley.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun A ragout composed of different sorts of meats, vegetables, etc., cooked together.
- noun A jar or packet of flower leaves, perfumes, and spices, used to scent a room.
- noun A piece of music made up of different airs strung together; a medley.
- noun A literary production composed of parts brought together without order or bond of connection.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
collection of various things; anassortment ,mixed bag ormotley . - noun An
anthology ofmiscellaneous prose . - noun music A
medley ofsongs ormusic . - noun A
mixture ofdried fragrant plant material , often in adecorative bowl , used toscent aroom .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun a musical composition consisting of a series of songs or other musical pieces from various sources
- noun a collection containing a variety of sorts of things
- noun a jar of mixed flower petals and spices used as perfume
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
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Examples
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Right into the hands of what I refer to as the potpourri of global scum, Braun told
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Wipe out with a damp paper towel, much easier than loose potpourri is to clean.
Home Scents 2006
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Trivia note -- book D-292 under "potpourri" -- THE INSIDERS by Booth Mooney: Mooney wound up in Washington as an aide to LBJ and a lobbyist, but Robert E. Howard fans know him better as one of REH's youthful amateur-press associates in Texas in the '20s.
Ace Books Image Lilbrary Update from Michael Smith Bill Crider 2008
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The French call it potpourri because that means "rotten pot."
A New Whiff on Potpourri William L. Hamilton 2011
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What she didn't mention was that I'd come from Italy and I had all these bags of an herbal mixture called potpourri, which I'd got from the Pharmacia de Santa Berria
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What is best described as a potpourri of opportunities for artist to share their talent,
Chattablogs 2010
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What is best described as a potpourri of opportunities for artist to share their talent,
Chattablogs 2010
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The covers are endlessly fascinating, especially the "potpourri" section. "potpourri" indeed, everything from William Burroughs to Frank Edwards to G. Harry Stine to endless historical potboilers and nurse novels.
Ace Books Image Lilbrary Update from Michael Smith Bill Crider 2008
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Chatting with me in the Perelman's café, Joseph Rishel, the museum's senior curator of European painting, told me that he'd like to see a future "potpourri" exhibition in that space, drawing cross-cultural connections among diverse permanent-collection works from around the world.
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He told officers he'd been smoking "potpourri," apparently referring to an herbal substance meant to produce feelings similar to that of marijuana.
Seattle Post-Intelligencer: Local News By LEVI PULKKINEN / SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF 2011
Prolagus commented on the word potpourri
Because we are men. We are different. We have only one word for soap. We do not own candles. We have never seen anything of any value in a craft shop. We do not own magazines fill of photographs of celebrities with all their clothes on. When we have conversations, we actually take it in turns to talk! But we have not yet reached that level of earth-shattering boredom and inhuman despair that we would have a haircut recreationally. We don't know how to get excited about... really, really boring things, like ornaments, bath oil, the countryside, vases, small churches. I mean, we do not even know what, what in the name of God's ass is the purpose of pot-pourri! Looks like breakfast, smells like your auntie!
(Coupling, ep. 3×6)
August 30, 2009
frogapplause commented on the word potpourri
What about mandles?
August 30, 2009
bilby commented on the word potpourri
People give them to us. What are they for?
August 30, 2009
chained_bear commented on the word potpourri
I really like "what in the name of God's ass...?" How delightful.
August 31, 2009