: a baked patty shell filled with meat, fowl, game, or seafood in sauce

Examples of vol-au-vent in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web
Examples are automatically compiled from online sources to show current usage. Read More Opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback.
Recent menus included lunches of free-range guinea fowl with corn polenta and marinated carrots and dinners of lobster vol-au-vent with white pudding and spinach. Marianna Cerini, Condé Nast Traveler, 1 Nov. 2023 Henri loudly praised my mother’s vol-au-vents, my father’s wine selection, the house, the furniture, our car, and the Japanese maple out front; Marie-Céleste nodded and smiled. Lucy Sante, The New Yorker, 11 Nov. 2023 At Camp, dinner might include a seafood tostada with a tomatillo vinaigrette, a mushroom vol-au-vent with sherry-sorghum cream sauce, or a lamb T-bone flavored with tikka masala. Chelsea Brasted, Southern Living, 23 Aug. 2023 Coronation chicken vol-au-vents were also served at the party. Janine Henni, Peoplemag, 17 Apr. 2023

Word History

Etymology

French, literally, flight in the wind

First Known Use

1828, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of vol-au-vent was in 1828

Dictionary Entries Near vol-au-vent

Cite this Entry

“Vol-au-vent.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/vol-au-vent. Accessed 21 Nov. 2024.

Love words? Need even more definitions?

Subscribe to America's largest dictionary and get thousands more definitions and advanced search—ad free!