cider

noun

ci·​der ˈsī-dər 

1

: fermented apple juice often made sparkling by carbonation or fermentation in a sealed container

2

: the expressed juice of fruit (such as apples) used as a beverage or for making other products (such as applejack)

Examples of cider in a Sentence

a cup of apple cider

Recent Examples on the Web

The tang of the apple cider combined with the Worcestershire balances out the sweetness from ketchup and brown sugar. —Robert F. Moss, Southern Living, 25 Mar. 2024

In the company’s 2023 earnings report, Heineken noted a double-digit growth for non-alcoholic beer and cider in several markets. —Prarthana Prakash, Fortune, 18 Feb. 2024

This event marks the debut of Beautiful Island, a cider with pink guava and sour plums made in collaboration with High Side, which will be served on draft and in a cask. —Washington Post, 8 Feb. 2024

Darling Pop Up at Olive + Tweed Olive + Tweed, 608 Main St., Park City, January 19-20, 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Darling is hosting a two-day pop up where guests are invited to shop, chat, sip cider and eat light bites. —Chris Gardner, The Hollywood Reporter, 12 Jan. 2024

Then build out the rest of your itinerary with roadside burgers, big sandwiches, cider and bowling (sometimes simultaneously), ice cream, treasure hunting, dune hikes, and beach napping. —Alex Beggs, Bon Appétit, 21 Mar. 2024

What's on the menu at Devil's Hideaway The bar offers five house cocktails plus Jell-O shots, cider and hard kombucha, wines by the glass and a selection of American and European beers. —The Arizona Republic, 18 Mar. 2024

March First, which also owns Cincinnati Distilling, specializes in craft beer, seltzer, cider and spirits. —Haadiza Ogwude, The Enquirer, 1 Mar. 2024

Vin Master This wine bar and shop features small scale production natural wines, beer, ciders and snacks. —Jillian Mueller, Charlotte Observer, 31 Jan. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English sider, sedyr, cidre "alcoholic drink (in Biblical translations and references), cider," borrowed from Anglo-French sizre, ciser, cydre, going back to Gallo-Romance *cīsera, by metathesis form of Late Latin (Vulgate) sīcera "alcoholic drink," borrowed from Greek (Septuagint) síkera, borrowed from Hebrew shēkhār, from a Semitic base š-k-r, whence Hebrew shākhar "become drunk," Arabic sikara

Note: The medieval French form sizre is attested once, in the 12th-century Cambridge, or Eadwine Psalter, where it appears as a translation of the Latin siceram in Psalm 68:14 (the Vulgate has vinum in this passage). (For other medieval outcomes and modern dialect forms see Französisches etymologisches Wörterbuch, v. 11, pp. 589-90.) Presumably *cīs(ĕ)ra yielded *tsizdra, which with loss of the internal sibilant yielded cidre (see Pierre Fouché, Phonétique historique du français, vol. 3 [Paris: Klincksieck, 1966], p. 822). Latin sīcera and its vernacular outcomes were likely disseminated and applied to the fermented juice of fruit, especially apples, in monasteries, particularly in non-wine-producing areas of Europe such as Normandy; Norman localization would also account for the thorough penetration of the word into Anglo-French.

First Known Use

13th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing cider

• cider vinegar
• hard cider

Kids Definition

cider

noun

ci·​der ˈsīd-ər 

: the juice pressed out of fruit (as apples) and used especially as a drink and in the making of vinegar