Also 7 chocolata, -latte, -letta, -lat, chocaletto, -latte, chockelet, jocolatte, jacolatt, 8 jocalat. [a. F. chocolat, Sp. chocolate, ad. Mexican chocolatl ‘an article of food made of equal parts of the seeds of cacao and those of the tree called pochotl’ [Bombax ceiba] Siméon Dict. de langue Nahuatl. Chocolatl has no connection whatever with the Mexican word cacauatl ‘cacao,’ or its modern corruption cocoa; but is, so far as is known, a radical word of the language. It is possible, however, that Europeans confounded chocolatl with cacaua-atl, which was really a drink made from cacao.]
1. A beverage made from the seeds of the cacao-tree; now, as distinguished from cocoa, that made by dissolving chocolate cake (see next) in boiling water or milk.
1604. E. G[rimstone], D’Acosta’s Hist. Indies, IV. xxii. 271. The chiefe vse of this Cacao, is in a drincke which they call Chocholaté.
1662. H. Stubbes (title), The Indian Nectar, a Treatise on Chocolata.
1664. Pepys, Diary, 24 Nov. To a Coffee-house, to drink jocolatte, very good.
1682. Evelyn, Diary, 24 Jan. They also drank of a sorbet and jacolatt.
c. 1684. Frost of 1683–4 (1844), 28.
| Pewter, tinn, glass, and what could trade create, | |
| Wine, beer, ale, brandy, chockelet. |
1705. Hickeringill, Priest-cr., II. vi. 62. Bless the Mahometan Coffee, and the Popish Spanish Chocolate.
1771. Smollett, Humph. Cl., Let. 20 April. He asked if she would take a dish of chocolate.
1843. Prescott, Mexico, I. v. (1864), 43. The chocolate—from the Mexican chocolatl,—now so common a beverage throughout Europe.
2. A paste or cake composed of the seeds of the cacao-fruit roasted and ground, sweetened and flavored with vanilla and other substances. This is used to make the beverage (sense 1), and also eaten in various comfits.
1659. Lovell, Compl. Herball, 70. Cacao … the confection thereof, Chocolate.
1662. H. Stubbe, Ind. Nectar, Pref. 11. The best Chocolata, call’d Chocolata-Royal, will cost six shillings six pence each pound.
1682. Lond. Gaz., No. 1750/4. Chocolatte is sold, from 2s. 6d. to 5s. per Pound.
1710. Swift, Lett. (1767), III. 27. The chocolate is a present, madam, for Stella.
1855. J. F. Johnston, Chem. Comm. Life, I. 224. The chocolate is made up into sweet cakes.
3. † Erroneously applied to the cacao-tree, its fruit or seed. Obs.
1755. Johnson, Chocolate, the nut of the Cacao-tree [so in mod. Dicts.].
1794. Martyn, Rousseau’s Bot., 370. There are four orders … Chocolate [Theobroma Cacao] is in the first.
4. Chocolate color.
1776. Withering, Bot. Arrangem. (1796), IV. 167. Pileus varying from deep chocolate to chesnut.
1883. Scarth, Rom. Brit., xviii. 177. Stones of a variety of shades, as cream colour, grey, yellow, and chocolate.
b. as adj. Chocolate-colored; dark brown.
1771. Goldsm., Haunch Venison, 95. ‘The tripe,’ quoth the Jew, with his chocolate cheek.
1776. Withering, Bot. Arrangem. (1796), IV. 202. Pileus with black, brown, and chocolate stripes.
1869. Daily News, 24 April, 3/4. A Cariboo young lady of chocolate complexion.
5. attrib. and Comb., as chocolate-brown, -cake, -colo(u)r, -crimson, -cup, -maker, -pot, -puff, -red, -seller; -colo(u)red, -confectioning, adjs.; chocolate-cream, a confection made from chocolate; chocolate-mill, (a) an instrument for mixing the chocolate and milk or water in preparing the beverage; (b) a mill in which the roasted and crushed seeds of the cacao-tree are ground in the preparation of chocolate; chocolate-nut, the cacao-fruit or its seed (it bears nothing of the nature of a nut); chocolate-root, the root of a North American plant, Geum canadense, used as a mild tonic; also the plant itself; chocolate-tree, the cacao-tree, Theobroma Cacao. Also CHOCOLATE-HOUSE.
1879. Rood, Chromatics, xi. 165. Good representations of olive-greens or *chocolate-browns.
1882. Garden, 11 Nov., 417/3. The colour is a bright chocolate-brown.
1799. G. Smith, Laboratory, II. 34. A deep brown, or *chocolate colour.
1845. Florist’s Jrnl., 15. A dark *chocolate-coloured smooth coat.
1648. Gage, West Ind., xv. (1655), 104. The *Chocolatte-confectioning Donnas.
1882. Garden, 18 Nov., 451/3. Flowers … of a rich *chocolate-crimson.
1757. Miller, in Phil. Trans., L. 29. Ten or twelve *chocolate-cups of the water.
1662. H. Stubbe, Ind. Nectar, v. 78. Ignorant *Chocolata-makers, who amass whatever is good, or pleasant alone, to be an Ingredient.
1703. Lond. Gaz., No. 3891/3. Lackered Tea-Tables, *Chocolat-Mills.
1769. Mrs. Raffald, Eng. Housekpr. (1778), 207. Mill them with a chocolate mill, to raise the froth, and take it off with a spoon as it rises.
1751. Sir J. Hill, Mat. Med., 474 (J.). The Cacao or *Chocolate Nut is a Fruit of an oblong Figure.
1676. Marvell, Mr. Smirke, Wks. 1875, IV. 80. To come to church with their *chocalatte pots.
1769. Mrs. Raffald, Eng. Housekpr. (1778), 277. To make *Chocolate Puffs.
1882. Garden, 8 April, 230/1. The ground colour is yellow, that of the markings a *chocolate-red.
1662. H. Stubbe, Ind. Nectar, Pref. 10. The mixture … is … confined only to the common *Chocolata-sellers.
1832. Veg. Subst. Food, 372. The Cacao, or *Chocolate-tree.
b. Chocolate north, gale: see quots.
1699. Dampier, Voy., II. II. i. 39. The next day having a brisk N. W. Wind, which was a kind of a Chocolatta North, we arrived at Port-Royal. Ibid., III. vi. 62. The Wind continues at N. W. blowing only a brisk Gale, which the Jamaica Seamen call a Chocolate North.
1867. Smyth, Sailor’s Word-bk., Chocolate-gale, a brisk N.W. wind of the West Indies and Spanish main.
Hence (chiefly nonce-wds.) Chocolate v., to drink chocolate; Chocolatesque a., pertaining to chocolate; † Chocolatical a., of the nature of chocolate; ǁ Chocolatier [F.], a maker or seller of chocolate.
1850. B. Taylor, Eldorado, II. xiv. 140. We arose in the moonlight, chocolated in the comedor, or dining-hall.
1881. Daily Tel., 2 March, 5/3. The late M. Menier, of chocolatesque fame.
1652. Wadsworth, Chocolate, 14. As for the rest of the ingredients which make our Chocolaticall Confection.
1888. Daily News, 23 April, 5/3. Sugar workers, liquorice refiners, chocolatiers, and fruit preservers.
