MOLOTOV COCKTAIL

PRONUNCIATION: (MOL-uh-tof KOK-tayl)

MEANING: noun: A crude bomb made of a bottle filled with a liquid fuel and fitted with a rag wick that is lighted just before the bottle is hurled.

ETYMOLOGY: After Soviet foreign minister, Vyacheslav Mikhailovich Molotov (1890-1986). Earliest documented use: 1940.

NOTES: It could have been known a Skryabin cocktail. Molotov was born as Vyacheslav Skryabin, but he took the name Molotov (from Russian molot: hammer). During the Winter War between the USSR and Finland (1939-1940), when the Soviets received international criticism for the bombing of Helsinki, Molotov claimed they were delivering humanitarian aid. In response, the Finns sarcastically called those cluster bombs Molotov bread baskets.
If the Soviets were bringing bread to the party, the least the Finns could do was bring drinks. They called their makeshift incendiary devices Molotov cocktail and used them to destroy Soviet tanks.
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MOLOTOV MOCKTAIL - 1. a non-alcoholic beverage for someone trying to stay away from alcohol;
2. Russian denigration of the World's Oldest Profession

MOZL-O'TOV COCKTAIL - a glass lifted in an Irish pub as a gesture of congratulations

B-MOL "OTOV COCKTAIL" - a fanciful cantata by JSBach, written in B-flat