olio

American  

[oh-lee-oh] / ˈoʊ liˌoʊ /

noun

olios plural

1. a dish of many ingredients.

2. Informal. olla podrida.

3. a mixture of heterogeneous elements; hodgepodge.

4. a medley or potpourri, as of musical or literary selections; miscellany.

5. Theater.

   1. a specialty act performed downstage while the upstage set is changed.

   2. a performance, as a musical number, presented between scenes or acts.

   3. drop scene.

   4. a program of variety acts, especially the second half of a minstrel show.

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olio British  

/ ˈəʊlɪˌəʊ /

noun

1. a dish of many different ingredients

2. a miscellany or potpourri

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Other Word Forms

Inflected Forms

noun

• olios
  plural

Etymology

Origin of olio

1635–45; < Spanish olla pot, stew < Latin olla, ōla pot, jar

Explanation

An olio is a hodgepodge of various things. The contents of your desk might be an olio of books and notebooks, uneaten snacks, the mini flashlight you found on the sidewalk, a golf ball, toothbrush and toothpaste, a Frisbee... An olio was originally, and still is, a Spanish or Latin American stew containing a variety of ingredients, such as sausage, perhaps other meats, tomatoes, chickpeas, and various other vegetables. The full name for this stew is olla podrida. The word olio came to be used for any collection of many kinds of different things, especially things that don't really seem to belong together or have anything in common. It can also describe a musical medley or a variety show.

Example Sentences

Barkeepers Ben Smith and Austin Polley took over the former Speckled & Drake space and upped their food game, adding an affordable fresh pasta menu with spaghetti aglio e olio, black pepper fettuccine and more.

From Seattle Times • Sep. 20, 2023

Toss garlic-infused olive oil with spaghetti, red pepper flakes and some parmesan cheese for a quick play on spaghetti aglio e olio.

From Salon • Apr. 18, 2021

Our preschooler was famished, so we headed to the property’s Italian restaurant, where the attentive wait staff helped us match Sula’s wines with minestrone soup, insalata mista, pizza and spaghetti aglio e olio.

From New York Times • Mar. 2, 2020

While my parents made sure that I hadn’t poisoned my grandmother, I went back to the kitchen and whipped up a simple spaghetti aglio e olio, which I secretly preferred to chanterelles.

From The New Yorker • Nov. 18, 2019

Sometimes I assisted the musical olio with dialect recitations and character sketches from the back step of the wagon.

From Complete Works of James Whitcomb Riley — Volume 1 by Riley, James Whitcomb