Meanings
alternative civy
- archaicuncountableA kind of chive sauce served with game or seafood.
White leeks, beef pasties, ducks and chines, hares and coneys in civey, a geneste (p. 174) of larks, great joints.
2006, Eileen Power, editor, The Goodman of Paris (Le Ménagier de Paris): A Treatise on Moral and Domestic Economy by a Citizen of Paris, C.1393, page 1512 more examples
In the kitchens the famous cooks were preparing menus which included, for one course alone: ballock broth, caudle ferry, lampreys en gelatine, oysters in civey, eels in sorré, baked trout, brawn in mustard, numbles of a hart, pigs farsed [...].
1940, TH White, The Ill-Made KnightWere there served, as in former times, a wine of Grenache and roasts, veal pasties, pimpernel pasties, black pudding and sausages, hares in civey and cutlets, pea soup, salt meat and great joints, a soringue of eels and other fish...
1954, Austryn Wainhouse, Hedyphagetica, page 132
Origin
- Old Frenchcivé
- Middle Englishcyvee
- Englishcivey
From Middle English cyvee, from Old French civé; equivalent to chive + -ey.
More words from Middle English, Old French
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
civey. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/civey
“civey.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/civey. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “civey,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/civey.
Source: civey on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.