pastrami

American

[puh-strah-mee] / pəˈstrɑ mi /

noun

a brisket of beef that has been cured in a mixture of garlic, peppercorns, sugar, coriander seeds, etc., then smoked before cooking.

pastrami British

/ pəˈstrɑːmɪ /

noun

highly seasoned smoked beef, esp prepared from a shoulder cut

"Collins English Dictionary — Complete & Unabridged" 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Etymology

Origin of pastrami

1935–40; < Yiddish pastrame < Romanian pastramă pressed, cured meat; a Balkanism of uncertain origin (compare Modern Greek pastramâs, Serbo-Croatian pȁstrma ), perhaps ultimately < Turkish pastιrma, taken as variant of bastιrma, equivalent to bastιr-, causative stem of bas- press, squeeze + -ma verbal noun suffix

Example Sentences

Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.

In a normal world, Dad would be ordering a double pastrami on rye while I got the ham and cheese with no tomato, no onion, and no lettuce.

From Literature

My foster parents think I was starving in Cuba, and so they like to take me to this restaurant called Wolfie’s, where we eat enormous pastrami sandwiches and bowls of matzoh ball soup.

From Literature

The pastrami sandwiches at Katz’s Delicatessen are iconic, but Meg Ryan’s impassioned exclamations at the deli in “When Harry Met Sally” may be even more iconic.

From Salon

Mr. Margolick recounts Caesar eating four pastrami sandwiches in one sitting.

From The Wall Street Journal

For a laid-back spot where you and your friends can sit at picnic tables and enjoy juicy pastrami sandwiches, loaded French fries and refreshing cocktails, check out Johnny’s in West Adams.

From Los Angeles Times

Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023