stir-fry

From stir +‎ fry. Coined by American physician Buwei Yang Chao in 1945, in How to Cook and Eat in Chinese.

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stir-fry (third-person singular simple present stir-fries, present participle stir-frying, simple past and past participle stir-fried)

1. (transitive) To fry quickly in hot oil whilst constantly stirring, especially in a wok or similar pan.
   • 1998, “Intergalactic”, performed by Beastie Boys:

     If you try to knock me, you'll get mocked / I'll stir-fry you in my wok

stir-fry (countable and uncountable, plural stir-fries or stir-frys)

1. Food cooked in this manner.
2. Any of a class of dishes based on Chinese cuisine, typically comprising strips of meat, vegetable and/or noodles, stir-fried and served coated in a sticky sauce.
   • 2004, Jyl Steinback, Supermarket Gourmet, Perigee Trade, →ISBN:

     16-oz. pkg. vegetable stir-fry mix  […] Combine vegetable broth, water, stir-fry mix, soy sauce and sugar in a large saucepot; stir to mix.

   • 2025 August 12, Stephanie Li and Chris Thomas, “Improving the "Western Weeknight Stir Fry"”, in Chinese Cooking Demystified‎^[1]:

     And so, the ‘western weeknight stir fry’ tends to aim for that sort of consistency — dutifully mixing together a ‘stir fry sauce’ laden with all of their seasoning, and a non-negligible amount of cornstarch.