Forms: 5– claret, 5 clarett, clarrytte, clarete, (cleret, clerote), 6 clarette, -ed, Sc. clarat, 6–7 clarret(t. [a. OF. claret, in vin claret (mod.F. clairet), from claret, clairet, dim. of clair ‘clear, light, bright’; cf. It. chiaretto dim. of chiaro, L. clārus ‘clear.’ The OF. claré CLARY, and this claret have fallen together in mod.F. under the form clairet (see Littré).]
1. A name originally given (like F. vin clairet) to wines of yellowish or light red color, as distinguished alike from ‘red wine’ and ‘white wine’; the contrast with the former ceased about 1600, and it was apparently then used for red wines generally, in which sense it is still, or was recently, dial. (cf. also 3). Now applied to the red wines imported from Bordeaux, generally mixed with Benicarlo or some full-bodied French wine.
† a. as adj., qualifying wine. Thus used, it was apparently at first significant of color, as in F.
[Cf. c. 1396. Manière de Langage (1873), Vin claret, vermeille, et blanc.]
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 79. Claret or cleret as wyne, semiclarus.
c. 1500. Blowbol’s Test., in Halliwell, Nugæ Poeticæ, 10. Rede wyn, the claret, and the white.
1513. Boke Keruynge, in Babees Bk., 267. Reed wyne, whyte wyne, clared wyne.
1533. Elyot, Cast. Helthe (1541), 39 a. Frenche claret wines.
1562. Bulleyn, Def. agst. Sickness, lf. xi. The seconde wine is pure claret, of a cleare Iacent or Yelow choler.
1568. Withals, Dict., Claret Wine, vinum sanguineum subrubrum, vel rubellum.
1587. Harrison, England, II. vi. (1877), I. 149. Small wines onlie, as Claret, White, Red, French, &c.
1593. Shaks., 2 Hen. VI., IV. vi. 4. That … The Conduit run nothing but Clarret Wine.
1611. Cotgr., Vin claret, claret wine.
1714. Gay, What d’ye call it, I. i. 9. My dry Lip is dy’d with Claret Wine.
b. absolutely. (The earlier quots. are uncertain.)
[a. 1400[?]. Morte Arth., 200. Þane clarett and Creette, clergyally rennene, With condethes fulle curious alle of clene silvyre.
c. 1485. Digby Myst. (1882), III. 477. Of wynys I haue grete plente, Both whyte wynne and red þat [ys] so cleyr … Clary wynne and claret, and other moo.]
c. 1535. Dewes, Introd. Fr., in Palsgr. (1852), 909. The whyte wyn, the claret (le claret), the wyne red.
c. 1575. Art of Planting, 74. Vessels of white wine … or Claret and such like.
1616. Surfl. & Markh., Countr. Farme, 638. Amongst these our French vvines, some are white, othersome are of a deepe yellow, commonly called clarets, or reddish vvines, vvhich are the most wholesome of all…. The rest are all red, more or lesse.
1689. Locke, Lett. Toleration, i. 51. Others have their Clubs for Clarret.
1707. Lond. Gaz., No. 4333/8. To be sold an entire Parcel of New French … Claret … being of the Growth of Lafitt, Margouze, and La Tour.
1778. Johnson, in Boswell, 29 April. A man may choose between abstemiousness and knowledge, or claret and ignorance.
a. 1825. Forby, Voc. E. Anglia, Claret, any sort of foreign red wine.
1836. C. Redding, Hist. Mod. Wines, iii. (ed. 2), 53. There is no pure wine in France like that which is designated claret in England. This wine is a mixture of Bordeaux with Benicarlo, or with some full wine of France. Clairet wines … signify those which are … rose-coloured.
1861. Sir J. Bowring, Autobiog. Recollect. (1877), 373. The four clarets of the first quality.
2. Pugilistic slang. Blood.
1604. Dekker, 1st Pt. Honest Wh., I. vii. Wks. 1873, II. 45. This should be a Coronation day: for my head runs Claret lustily.
1659. Benlowes, Theoph., III. lxviii. War hath our luke-warm Claret broacht with Spears.
1821. Byron, Lett., 12 Dec. Besides losing some claret on the spot, [he] bruised himself a good deal.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, lvi. 473. His fine shirt frill dabbled with the claret drawn from his own little nose.
3. The color of ‘claret’; in modern acceptation, a reddish-violet.
1648. Herrick, Hesper., On Julia’s Recovery. Health on Julia’s cheek hath shed Clarret, and creame commingled.
1884. Chr. World, 17 Jan., 52/1. Very rich Brocaded Plush to match in … Claret.
b. attrib. or as adj. Claret-colored. Cf. 1 a.
1547. Recorde, Judic. Ur., 33. Claret and redd Urine.
1580. Hollyband, Treas. Fr. Tong. Rougeastre, reddish or claret colour.
1630. Randolph, Aristippus, Wks. (1668), 299. I’ll … have some Claret Whore burn him for an Heretick (cf. scarlet lady).
1736. Mortimer, in Phil. Trans., XXXIX. 258. The Brimstone, the Carrot, and Claret Potatoes.
1882. Garden, 25 March, 196/1. The deep claret hue of the Akebia.
4. Angling. Species of artificial salmon-fly, so named from its general color when made up.
1867. F. Francis, Angling, x. (1880), 346–7. The Claret.… It is good for sea-trout.
5. attrib. and Comb., as claret-jug, -vessel; -colo(u)red adj.; † claret-cunner, a connoisseur of claret; claret-cup, a mixture of iced claret with lemonade and various flavoring ingredients.
1777. Scott, Colour Blindness, in Phil. Trans., LXVIII. 613. A fine rich *claret-coloured dress.
1500–20. Dunbar, Remonstr. King, 42. Monsouris of France, gud *clarat-cunnaris.
1876. Miss Braddon, Hostages to Fortune, 81 (Hoppe). He … compounds *claret-cup at the evening meal.
1862. Dickens, Lett., 2 Jan. (1880), II. 171. The packet will contain a *claret-jug. I hope it is a pretty thing in itself for your table.
Hence (chiefly nonce-wds.) Claret v., to drink claret (cf. to wine); Clareteer, a drinker of claret; Claretless a., without claret; Clarety a., having the appearance of claret.
1814. Byron, Lett. Moore, 9 April. We clareted and champagned till two.
a. 1679. Ld. Orrery, Altemira, II. The Humble Claretteers resist in vain, Whilst he toasts, every Night, in politick Champaign.
1707. Hearne, Collect., 5 Nov. (Oxf. Hist. Soc.), II. 68. Being a stout Claretteer [he] kill’d … an Apothecary … by hard drinking.
1823. Byron, Juan, XIV. lviii. Leaving all-claretless the unmoisten’d throttle.
1709. [E. Ward], Rambling Fuddle-Caps, 15. Your poor Son with that Clarety Nose.
