Crossword clues for schmaltz
schmaltz
Douglas Harper's Etymology Dictionary
"banal or excessive sentimentalism," 1935, from Yiddish shmalts, literally "melted fat," from Middle High German smalz, from Old High German smalz "animal fat," related to smelzan "to melt" (see smelt (v.)). Modern German Schmalz "fat, grease" has the same figurative meaning. First mentioned in English as "a derogatory term used to describe straight jazz" ["Vanity Fair," Nov. 1935].
Wiktionary
n. 1 (context uncountable English) Liquid chickenfat. 2 (context uncountable English) excessively sentimental art or music.
WordNet
Wikipedia
Schmaltz (also spelled schmalz or shmalz) is rendered (clarified) chicken or goose fat used for frying or as a spread on bread in Central European cuisine, and in the United States, particularly identified with Ashkenazi Jewish cuisine. Rendered waterfowl fat is also used in the cuisine of Southwestern France. As an effect of cross-cultural influences of the Jewish Ashkenazi, Polish, and Ukrainian cuisine, it is also popular in Poland and Ukraine, where it is known as 'smalec' and is considered to be either goose (gęsi smalec) or pork fat (smalec).
The English term "schmaltz" is derived from Yiddish, and is cognate with the German term Schmalz, meaning "rendered animal fat", regardless of source: both tallow and lard are considered forms of Schmalz in German, as is clarified butter. English usage tends to follow Yiddish, where it means poultry fat.
Usage examples of "schmaltz".
Weinberger wished that for just one moment he could muster some of the schmaltz of show business.
Scott Fitzgerald to Joe Kennedy, such Irishmen had brought blarney and enchantment to stir into the schmaltz and the chutzpa that Hollywood already had in abundance.
The steel door closes behind him and he hears the piano become a pie-anny as schmaltz transmogrifies to boogie.
You can't cut the audience out of its essential enjoyment--you have to give them some schmaltz to hold on to.