noun
- a store selling foods already prepared or requiring little preparation for serving, as cooked meats, cheese, salads, and the like.
- Informal. the food products sold in such a store or at a counter: We’re having delicatessen for dinner.
noun
- a shop selling various foods, esp unusual or imported foods, already cooked or prepared
- such foods
1889, American English, from German delikatessen, plural of delikatesse “a delicacy, fine food,” from French délicatesse (1560s), from délicat “fine,” from Latin delicatus (see delicate).