chasse café

A form of chasse-café — A small serving of spirits taken to remove the taste of coffee, tobacco, etc.

Meanings

nounchasse café (plural chasse cafés)

plural chasse cafés

  1. alternativedatedAlternative form of chasse-café.

    The former will have devoted himself to you for the first half-score hours, have promenaded, dined à la carte, and chasse café’d with you, seen you to your hotel with bows, promises, and ravishing language, and then—have forgotten you for ever.

    [1847, Sylvanus [pseudonym; Robert Colton], “Letter XIX”, in Rambles in Sweden and Gottland: With Etchings by the Way-side, London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 131
    2 more examples

    "[…] And here comes tea and coffee—may as well have some, I suppose it will be all the same price. And what's this?" eyeing a lot of liqueur glasses full of eau de vie. "Chasse café, Monsieur," said the garçon. "Chasse cafe—chasse cafe—what's that? Oh, I twig—what we call 'shove in the mouth' at the Free-and-Easy.—Yes, certainly, give me a glass."

    1833 May, “a Yorkshireman” [pseudonym], “A Trip to Paris with Mr. Jorrocks”, in The New Sporting Magazine, volume V, number XXV, London: Baldwin & Cradock [et al.], →OCLC, page 42

    I could not understand why they gave us unlimited light claret for dinner, with Madeira and champagne, with any number of chasse cafés, all included in the passage-money, whilst any one calling for a modest glass of ale had to pay extra, and pretty handsomely, for the same.

    1868, H[enry] C[harles] Ross Johnson, “The Conspiracy.—The Harbour of Buenos Ayres.”, in A Long Vacation in the Argentine Alps: Or Where to Settle in the River Plate States, London: Richard Bentley, […], →OCLC, page 22
Cite this entry
APA

chasse café. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chasse%20caf%C3%A9

MLA

“chasse café.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chasse%20caf%C3%A9. Accessed November 5, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “chasse café,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/chasse%20caf%C3%A9.

Source: chasse café on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.