1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Sherbet

SHERBET (the Turkish form of the Arabic sharbat, drink, shariba, he drank, cf. “ shrub,” an English derivative), properly the name of an Oriental beverage, consisting of the juice of such fruits as the lemon, citron, &c., dropped upon a cake of sugar and partially frozen with snow or otherwise cooled. The word, and also the French form sorbet, are applied in Western usage to a water-ice not frozen as hard as the ordinary ice, and flavoured with fruit juice, spirit, &c. A cheap sweetened effervescing drink is also so styled.