1. Sausages, ham, pâtés, and other cooked or processed meat foods.
2. A delicatessen specializing in such foods.

[French, from chaircuicterie : chair, meat (from Latin carō, flesh; see carnage) + cuict, cuit, cooked (from Latin coctus, past participle of coquere; see cook).]

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.