Definition of "congee"

congee¹

/ˈkɑnd͡ʒi/

noun
countable and uncountable, plural congees
1. (originally and particularly) :
  1. (obsolete) Formal permission to leave; a passport.
2. (obsolete) Formal dismissal; (figurative) any dismissal; (originally & particularly humorously ironic) abrupt dismissal without ceremony.
  Quotations
  So courteous conge both did giue and take,With right hands plighted, pledges of good will.
  1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book II, Canto I”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie
3. (obsolete) Formal leavetaking; (figurative) any farewell.
4. (obsolete, Scotland) A fee paid to make another go away, (particularly) alms to a persistent beggar.
5. (archaic) A bow, curtsey, or other gesture (originally) made at departure but (later) including at greeting or in obeissance or respect.
  Quotations
  As salutations, reverences, or conges, by which some doe often purchase the honour, (but wrongfully) to be humble, lowly, and courteous […].
  1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter 17, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […]
  So saying, he bowed with a thousand apish congês, and presented his paper to Peregrine […] .
  1751, [Tobias] Smollett, chapter 96, in The Adventures of Peregrine Pickle […], volume IV, London: Harrison and Co., […]
  “My daughter Rebecca, so please your Grace,” answered Isaac, with a low congee, nothing embarrassed by the Prince’s salutation, in which, however, there was at least as much mockery as courtesy.
  1820, Walter Scott, Ivanhoe; a Romance. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), Edinburgh: […] Archibald Constable and Co.; London: Hurst, Robinson, and Co. […]
  His speech thus spake the Moor, and took his leave,he and his meiny where the bátels lay:formal farewells to chief and crews he gave,exchanging congees with due courtesy.
  1880, Richard Francis Burton, Os Lusíadas, volume I, page 23
verb
third-person singular simple present congees, present participle congeeing, simple past and past participle congeed
1. (archaic) To give congee, (particularly)
  1. (obsolete, transitive) To give formal permission to leave; to dismiss.
  2. (obsolete, transitive) To give formal permission to do something; to license.
2. (archaic) To take congee: to leave ceremoniously.
3. (archaic) To make a congee: to bow, curtsey, etc., (particularly dialectal) while leaving; (figuratively) to make obeissance, show respect, or defer to someone or something.

congee²

/ˈkɑnd͡ʒi/

noun
usually uncountable, plural congees
1. (Asian cooking) A type of thick rice porridge or soup, sometimes prepared with vegetables and/or meat.
  Quotations
  In a past life in Fuzhou, it represented some reality other than the one of daily congee and pickled turnips, cabbage and boiled rip soup.
  2022, Ling Ma, “Peking Duck”, in Bliss Montage, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux

Definition of "congee"

congee1

noun

Quotations

Quotations

verb

congee2

noun

Quotations

congee¹

congee²