[Fr. café coffee, coffee-house.] A coffee-house, a restaurant; strictly a French term, but recently introduced in this country for the name of a class of restaurant.
1816. J. Scott, Vis. Paris (ed. 5), Pref. 43. A rushing whisper over Paris, encreasing to a buzz in the Cafés.
1851. Gallenga, Mariotti’s Italy, 389. Cafés and clubs roared incessantly.
1871. Morley, Voltaire (1886), 160. He wrote it as well as he knew how, and then went in disguise to the café of the critics.
1884. J. Colborne, Hicks Pasha, 85. The cafés are crowded with backgammon players.
