/ ˈkɒkteɪl; NAmE ˈkɑːk-/ noun
1.
[ C ] a drink usually made from a mixture of one or more spirits (= strong alcoholic drinks) and fruit juice. It can also be made without alcohol :
a cocktail bar / cabinet / lounge
2.
[ C , U ] a dish of small pieces of food, usually served cold :
a prawn / shrimp cocktail
fruit cocktail
3.
[ C ] a mixture of different substances, usually ones that do not mix together well :
a lethal cocktail of drugs
—see also Molotov cocktail
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WORD ORIGIN
early 17th cent.: from cock + tail . The original use was as an adjective describing a creature with a tail like that of a cock, specifically a horse with a docked tail; hence (because hunters and coach-horses were generally docked) a racehorse which was not a thoroughbred, having a cock-tailed horse in its pedigree (early 19th cent.). Sense 1 (originally US, also early 19th cent.) is perhaps an analogy, from the idea of an impure spirit.