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Pancake
Definitions
- 1 A surname.
- 1 A thin batter cake fried in a pan or on a griddle in oil or butter; in particular:; In England, an often unleavened cake similar to a crepe. countable, uncountable
- 2 a flat cake of thin batter fried on both sides on a griddle wordnet
- 3 A thin batter cake fried in a pan or on a griddle in oil or butter; in particular:; In the US (and e.g. Scotland), a leavened, thicker, fluffier cake. countable, uncountable
"Mrs. America is holding a plate of pancakes in one hand and a fork with a slice of pancake in the other."
- 4 A kind of makeup, consisting of a thick layer of a compressed powder. uncountable
"And us, me wearing pancake with my eyebrows recently plucked archly, done by Little Amber, the beauty-school student quean, in Bryant Park."
- 5 A type of throw, usually with a ring where the prop is thrown in such a way that it rotates round an axis of the diameter of the prop. countable
"have been working on pancake throws with rings for the past few months and I have been trying to make the throws perfectly spun and as consistent as possible."
Show 5 more definitions
- 6 Anything very thin and flat. countable
"pancake lens"
- 7 Composite leather made of scraps, glue and board, by extension of (4), material originally used for insoles, but later used also for heels and even soles. uncountable
"&hellip in the poorer grades the heel is made of scrap leather and leather board or pulp, finished with a solid leather top lift. The composite material, called pancake, is made by an operative, usually a girl, called a pancake-maker; it is used sometimes for soles as well as heels."
- 8 A box on which an actor stands to make them appear taller. countable, slang
- 9 A defensive play in which the ball bounces off the top of a hand that has been pressed flat against the floor. countable
- 10 An attractive young woman. US, countable, dated, slang
"Damon Runyon, The Brakeman's Daughter 'To tell the truth,' The Humming Bird says, 'I neglect these details, because,' he says, 'I am already dated up to go out with Big False Face to-night to call on a doll who is daffy to meet me. Otherwise,' he says, 'I will undoubtedly make arrangements to see more of this pancake I just save from rack and ruin.'"
- 1 To make a pancake landing. intransitive
- 2 To collapse one floor after another.
- 3 To flatten violently. transitive
"Poor old Sleepy suffered from an on-duty head injury he'd got by chasing a Corvette on a police motorcycle, ending up like a pancaked roadkill with half his scalp flapping in the backwash of freeway commuters[…]"
- 4 To lie out flat, like a pancake; sploot. intransitive
Etymology
Inherited from Middle English pancake, panne cake, pankake, ponkake. By surface analysis, pan + cake. Perhaps adapted from Middle Low German pankôke, pannekôke, from Old Saxon *pannakōko (suggested by derivatives Old Saxon pannakōkilo and pannakōkilīn), where the compound is much older; compare Old High German phankuohho (8th century), whence Middle High German phankuoche, German Pfannkuchen (“pancake”); further Saterland Frisian Ponkouke, Ponkuuke (“pancake”), West Frisian pankoek (“pancake”), Dutch pannenkoek (“pancake”), German Low German Pannkook (“pancake”). The juggling sense is by analogy with a pancake being tossed in a pan.
Inherited from Middle English pancake, panne cake, pankake, ponkake. By surface analysis, pan + cake. Perhaps adapted from Middle Low German pankôke, pannekôke, from Old Saxon *pannakōko (suggested by derivatives Old Saxon pannakōkilo and pannakōkilīn), where the compound is much older; compare Old High German phankuohho (8th century), whence Middle High German phankuoche, German Pfannkuchen (“pancake”); further Saterland Frisian Ponkouke, Ponkuuke (“pancake”), West Frisian pankoek (“pancake”), Dutch pannenkoek (“pancake”), German Low German Pannkook (“pancake”). The juggling sense is by analogy with a pancake being tossed in a pan.
German surname, Americanized and translated from Pfannkuch, Pfannkuche, also found in north/Low German as Pannkoke, Pankauke, as well as Dutch Pannekoek. All mean "pancake," and could be from a nickname for someone who likes them, or an occupational surname for someone who worked at an establishment that famously served them.
See also for "pancake"
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