Jellied

Part of speech: adjective

Definitions

1. Exhibiting a thickened or gelatin-like quality often found in certain food preparations
2. Characterizing a texture that is somewhat transparent and has a viscous consistency, often resembling gelatin or preserves
3. Having a viscous and stable texture that resembles gelatin, typically used in cooking or food presentations

Etymology: "Jellied" is simply the past tense and past participle of "jelly," so its story is really the story of the noun it comes from. That noun passes through a surprising detour: it descends from the Latin "gelare," meaning "to freeze," which is also the source of words like "gelid." The Latin "gelata" (frozen things) reached Old French as "gelee," meaning a frozen or jellied substance, and English borrowed it as "gele" in Middle English, later becoming "jelly." The sense of "freezing" survives in the word's original idea: a jelly is something that has set, stiffened from liquid into a wobbling solid. Cooks used the term for the gelatin-rich juices that firm up as they cool, and "jellied" describes foods, such as eel or meat, prepared this way. A doublet of "jelly" is "jelly's" French cousin "gelée," which English also kept in its own right.

Synonyms: gelatinous, set, thickened, glutinous, firm

Antonyms: liquid, runny, fluid, unstable, loose