crumpet

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English[edit]

A buttered crumpet

Etymology[edit]

17th century, either from crompid cake (wafer, literally, curled-up cake), from crompid, form of crumpen (to curl up); cognate to crumpled. Alternate etymology is from Celtic; compare Breton krampouezh (crepe, pancake) and Welsh crempog (pancake).

Sense of “desirable woman” attested 1936, possibly as cockney rhyming slang for strumpet; alternatively, compare tart (loose woman, prostitute) (itself possibly cockney rhyming slang for heart or sweetheart). Note that muffin has a similar sense, and that, in 19th and early 20th centuries, "Muffins and crumpets" was a familiar street-cry in UK.

Pronunciation[edit]

  • krŭm'pĭt,
  • IPA(key): /ˈkɹʌmpɪt/
  • (file)
  • Rhymes: -ʌmpɪt

Noun[edit]

English Wikipedia has an article on:
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crumpet (countable and uncountable, plural crumpets)

  1. A type of savoury cake, typically flat and round, made from batter and yeast, containing many small holes and served toasted, usually with butter.
    • 1995, Tedi Sarafian, Tank Girl, spoken by T-Saint, Deetee & Booger (respectively) (Ice-T, Jeff Kober, and Reg E. Cathey):
      T-Saint: I say we kill 'em!
      Donner: I say we hump 'em.
      Booga: I say we eat crumpets and tea.
      Deetee: Tasty! Crumpets and tea. All in favor of crumpets and tea, say "I."
      All: I!
      T-Saint: Shut up! Ain't gonna be no crumpets and tea.
  2. (UK, slang, dated, countable, uncountable) A sexually attractive person or, collectively, people; usually referring to women.
    Joan Bakewell was famously described as "the thinking man's crumpet".
    John and his mates have gone out to find themselves some crumpet.
    • 1969, Jackie Collins, The Stud, reprint edition, Simon & Schuster, published 1999, →ISBN, page 32:
      The regulars are all guys, a varied selection, my friends. There's Sammy—small, wiry, dark-haired. A hat manufacturer, crumpet mad—always chatting up different birds.
    • 2014 November 12, Michael Hogan, “Have we reached peak Benedict Cumberbatch?”, in The Telegraph[1]:
      Our lives are saturated with middle-class crumpet Benedict Cumberbatch - but does he deserve the attention, asks Michael Hogan

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