What it means
Your local neighbourhood convenience store, usually on a corner, part deli, part mini supermarket. You pop in for a chopped cheese, a bacon egg and cheese, a cold drink, rolling papers, cat food, whatever. Loads are open late or 24/7, and half of them have a resident bodega cat like it pays rent. Proper NYC staple.
Usage examples
"Yo, I’m gonna swing by the bodega for an Arizona and a BEC. Need chips or a MetroCard while I’m there?"
"I'm running to the bodega for a bacon egg and cheese, you want anything?"
"The bodega on the corner is open till three, they'll have your cold drink."
Where it comes from
Straight from the Spanish bodega, a storeroom or wine cellar. Puerto Rican and Dominican families carried the word to New York, where it settled on the corner shop that sells everything. The Old World cellar became the New York counter, resident cat and all.
Editors of this term
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