Pretzel

//ˈpɹɛt.səl// noun, verb, slang

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A toasted bread or cracker usually in the shape of a loose knot.

    "When I was young, the best Philadelphia could do in the way of combining music and eating—or principally drinking—was at the Mäennerchor Garden at Ninth and Green, where a pretzel might be had with a glass of beer, or a sherry cobbler"

  2. 2
    glazed and salted cracker typically in the shape of a loose knot wordnet
  3. 3
    Anything that is knotted, twisted, or tangled. broadly, figuratively

    "he drew himself up into a regular pretzel of a boy"

Verb
  1. 1
    To bend, twist, or contort. Canada, US, informal, transitive

    "They discovered a snake pretzelled into knots."

Etymology

Etymology 1

From dialectal German Pretzel, a variant of standard Brezel, from Old High German brēzitella, from Vulgar Latin *brāchiātellus, diminutive of Latin brāchium, bracchium (“arm”); named for the appearance of folded arms.

Etymology 2

From dialectal German Pretzel, a variant of standard Brezel, from Old High German brēzitella, from Vulgar Latin *brāchiātellus, diminutive of Latin brāchium, bracchium (“arm”); named for the appearance of folded arms.

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