[‘ Of food: reheated, heated or warmed up again; made from leftovers. Freq. fig.: reworked, rehashed; unoriginal, derivative. Also as a postmodifier, after French use.']
Pronunciation: Brit. /reɪˈʃəʊfeɪ/, U.S. /ˌreɪˌʃoʊˈfeɪ/
Forms: 17– *rechauffé*, 18 20– *réchauffe*, 18– *rechauffe*, 18– *réchauffé*, 18– *rechauffée*, 18– *réchauffée*.
Etymology: < French /réchauffé/ reheated (13th cent. in Old French), rehashed, derivative (1671), use as adjective of past participle of réchauffer to warm up again, reheat (see rechauffe v.). With use as noun compare French /réchauffé/ rehash (1755).
N.E.D. (1904) gives only the non-naturalized pronunciation (r/e/ʃ/o/f/e/) reʃofe.
*A.* adj.
Of food: reheated, heated or warmed up again; made from leftovers. Freq. fig.: reworked, rehashed; unoriginal, derivative. Also as a postmodifier, after French use.
1778 H. Chapone /Let./ 20 Aug. in /Wks./ (1808) II. 185 Though it cannot have quite the zest of the first royal visit, yet it may do well enough rechauffé, as it will be garnished with many new circumstances.
1838 /Times/ 27 Dec. 5/4 This was a rechauffée version of the well-known story of Jane Shore.
1856 W. H. G. Kingston /Western Wanderings/ II. i. 30 We came in for some rechauffé viands of good quality.
1921 /Sat. Westm. Gaz./ 17 Sept. 14/1 Professor Wendell..frequently inserts what the dust-cover or jacket of the English edition denominates his ‘humanity’ between a hackneyed quotation and a platitude tastefully rechauffé.
1977 /Gramophone/ Feb. 1307/1 These, then, are humdrum, rechauffé performances full of gestures by rote.
1988 M. Seymour /Ring of Conspirators/ ii. 55 Edith Wharton shuddered at the memory of the dreary rechauffée nursery food she had politely choked down.
2004 F. Rush in F. Rush /Cambr. Compan. Crit. Theory/ i. 32 Treating Heidegger as Kierkegaard réchauffe is, tactically, very astute.
*B.* n.
A warmed-up dish; a dish made from leftovers. Freq. fig.: a reworking or rehash (chiefly depreciative).
1805 /Edinb. Rev./ Apr. 133 It is really wasting time to confute this réchauffé of a theory.
1851 E. Ward /Jrnl./ 5 Feb. (1951) 123 Took tea with the Godleys, met the Russells, and had a rechauffe both of the ball supper and the ball gossip.
1870 R. Broughton /Red as Rose/ I. xiii. 272 A réchauffé of one’s own stale speeches is not an appetising dish.
1922 A. Jekyll /Kitchen Ess./ 143 Here is a good recipe for a Réchauffé after the stages of pulled, grilled, and devilled have been passed.
1952 /Monumenta Nipponica/ *8* 30 His chapter XVI, which purports to give a description of Japan, is a mere réchauffé, as he candidly admits.
1977 /Times/ 3 Sept. 10/5 Cru de Meynas..is a useful bottle for casual meals of cold game or réchauffées.
2006 P. Mandler /Eng. National Char./ v. 157 Methodologically it was hardly more than a réchauffé of Buckle and Christian liberalism.