bartending

B3A1R1T1E1N1D2I1N1G2

noun

The craft of mixing drinks, making cocktails, and related skills of tending a bar.

OriginEnglish tending ← Middle English barre ← Old French barre →
Less commonScrabble 14
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Meanings

bartending1

nounbartending (uncountable)
  1. uncountableThe craft of mixing drinks, making cocktails, and related skills of tending a bar.
    1 more example

    "I need to know if any of them took a specific drink order recently. An angel shot." The manager raised an eyebrow. "Angel shot? Isn't that--" Kelly nodded. In the bartending business, it was well known that an "angel shot" wasn't a real drink, but was instead a code word that women could use to signal that they were in trouble.

    2023, Rylie Dark, Where You Go

bartending2

verb
  1. gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of bartend

Origin

  1. Vulgar Latin*barra
  2. Old Frenchbarre
  3. Middle Englishbarre
  4. Englishbar
  5. Englishtending
  6. Englishbartending

From bar + tending.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

bartending. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bartending

MLA

“bartending.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bartending. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “bartending,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/bartending.

Source: bartending on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.