gingerbread
nounverbattested in dialogue
- United Kingdom//ˈd͡ʒɪn.(d͡)ʒəˌbɹɛd//
- United States//ˈd͡ʒɪn.d͡ʒɚˌbɹɛd//
A type of cake whose main flavoring is ginger.
noun
- 1
A type of cake whose main flavoring is ginger.
- 2
figurativeSomething ersatz; something showy but insubstantial.
- 3
A flamboyant Victorian-era architectural style.
For a time modern architects took a starkly functional approach to the design of houses, emphasizing clean, uncluttered lines and rejecting most forms of wall ornamentation as dust-catching gingerbread.
Etymology
From Middle English gyngebred, gyngebrede, from Old French gingembras, gingimbrat (“preserved ginger”), from Medieval Latin *gingimbrātus (“gingered”, presumably referring to ginger that perhaps had a pharmaceutical use for some medicinal preparation), with the intrusive m added to gingiber, from Latin zingiber (“ginger”), of earlier Sanskrit origin, through Ancient Greek ζιγγίβερις (zingíberis). The third syllable was earlier confounded with bread, and the insertion of an r in the second syllable completed the semblance of a compound word: ginger + bread.
verb
- 1
To decorate or embellish in an ornate or intricate way.
Forms
- plural
- gingerbreads
- past tense
- gingerbreaded
- past participle
- gingerbreaded
- present participle
- gingerbreading
- third person singular
- gingerbreads
gingerbread · A type of cake whose main flavoring is ginger.
ginny · Affected by gin; resembling or characteristic of gin.Ginny · A diminutive of the female given names Virginia or Ginevra.gino · A person of Mediterranean (especially Italian) descent,…