Definition: sabler

In 1728, Pierre Richelet's Dictionnaire de la langue française, ancienne et moderne (Dictionary of the French Language, Ancient and Modern), revised by Pierre Aubert, took up and clarified the definition given in the 1964 Académie Française dictionary, stating: "Sabler un verre de vin" (to sand a glass of wine). This expression is used by some people to mean to drink a glass of wine in one gulp. Just as molten material is hastily poured into a mould, wine is poured down the throat, and it is because of this similarity that we say "jeter en sable" (to throw into sand) or "sabler un verre de vin" (to sand a glass of wine). Constant, Emperor Napoleon I's valet, wrote in his memoirs: "... General Dorsenne took it into his head to give a grand supper; the wines from the Rhine and Hungary were sablé, followed by punch...".
In 1728, Pierre Richelet's Dictionnaire de la langue française, ancienne et moderne (Dictionary of the French Language, Ancient and Modern), revised by Pierre Aubert, took up and clarified the definition given in the 1964 Académie Française dictionary, stating: "Sabler un verre de vin" (to pour wine into one's throat). This expression is used by some people to mean to drink something in one gulp. Just as molten material is hastily poured into a mould, wine is poured into the throat, and it is because of this similarity that we say "jeter en sable" (to throw into sand) or "sabler un verre de vin" (to sand a glass of wine). Constant, Emperor Napoleon I's valet, wrote in his memoirs: "... General Dorsenne took it into his head to give a grand supper; the wines from the Rhine and Hungary were sanded, then the punch came..."