corkage

noun

cork·​age ˈkȯr-kij How to pronounce corkage (audio)
: a charge (as by a restaurant) for opening a bottle of wine bought elsewhere

Examples of corkage in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web The lounge room in the Design District has racks of bottles that will be sold for retail or can be poured in the shop with no corkage fee. Sarah Blaskovich, Dallas News, 28 Aug. 2023 Chilmark is the last dry town on the island, so be sure to bring your own bottle of rosé ($15 corkage fee). Remy Tumin, New York Times, 29 June 2023 For guests who do like to imbibe, the property allows diners to bring their own wine and spirits (with no corkage fee) to add to the whimsical array of mocktails. Marisa Sullivan, Peoplemag, 28 June 2023 Drink your stash of alcohol in your cabin to avoid corkage fees at the restaurant. Stefanie Waldek, Travel + Leisure, 17 Apr. 2023 If wine is your poison of choice, then look for places with corkage, which is different to B.Y.O.B. Clare Finney, Vogue, 29 Mar. 2023 The 10-seater is by reservation only and is BYOL (bring your own liquor) with a corkage fee for large bottles. Brooke Viggiano, Chron, 16 Mar. 2023 L’Avant-Garde offers corkage for $50 per bottle and, unusual for a lot of establishments, doesn’t limit the number of bottles a diner can bring to the restaurant. Tom Sietsema, Washington Post, 10 Feb. 2023 But these days, no one seems happy about the state of BYOB — not the restaurant owners, who would generally prefer for customers to order from the wine list, and not the customers, who believe that corkage fees have grown exorbitant. Esther Mobley, San Francisco Chronicle, 9 Feb. 2023

These examples are programmatically compiled from various online sources to illustrate current usage of the word 'corkage.' Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Send us feedback about these examples.

Word History

First Known Use

1838, in the meaning defined above

Time Traveler
The first known use of corkage was in 1838

Dictionary Entries Near corkage

Cite this Entry

“Corkage.” Merriam-Webster.com Dictionary, Merriam-Webster, https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/corkage. Accessed 19 Mar. 2024.

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