pickled

Everyday

1. Pickled food has been kept in vinegar or salty water so it lasts a long time and tastes sour. tree →
2. (verb) To pickle food is to keep it in vinegar or salt water. tree →
3. (slang, old-fashioned) Pickled can mean drunk. tree →

In the lessons

In everyday life and food lessons it describes onions, cucumbers (gherkins), beetroot and eggs; in science and history it shows how people kept food before fridges, because vinegar and salt stop germs growing. Phrases: pickled onions, pickled herring, pickled in vinegar.

Examples

• I love pickled onions with cheese. tree →
• Gran pickled the beetroot from her garden. tree →
• Pickled cucumbers are called gherkins. tree →
• Vinegar stops pickled food going bad. tree →
• The museum kept animals pickled in jars. tree →
• (slang) Uncle Pete was a bit pickled after the party. tree →
• We pickled red cabbage in class. tree →

Note

Past form of «pickle»; one «l» before «-ed» (pickled). «In a pickle» is a different idiom meaning in trouble. «Pickled» for drunk is joking, not polite.