gingerbread

gingerbread
gingerbread late 13c., gingerbrar, from O.Fr. ginginbrat "ginger preserve," from M.L. gingimbratus "gingered," from gingiber (see GINGER (Cf. ginger)). The ending changed by folk etymology to -brede "bread," a formation attested by mid-14c. Originally "preserved ginger," the meaning "a kind of spiced cake" is from 15c. Figurative use, "showy, insubstantial" is from c.1600. Sense of "fussy decoration on a house" is first recorded 1757; gingerbread-work (1748) was a sailor's term for carved decoration on a ship.

Etymology dictionary. 2014.

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  • gingerbread — [jin′jər bred΄] n. [ME ginge bred, altered (after bred, BREAD) < gingebras, preserved ginger, ginger pudding < OFr gingembraz < gingibre < ML gingiber, GINGER] 1. a) a cake flavored with ginger and molasses b) a kind of cookie cut… …   English World dictionary

  • gingerbread — [13] The idea that gingerbread does not much resemble bread is entirely justified by the word’s history. For originally it was gingebras (a borrowing from Old French), and it meant ‘preserved ginger’. By the mid 14th century, by the process known …   The Hutchinson dictionary of word origins

  • gingerbread — [13] The idea that gingerbread does not much resemble bread is entirely justified by the word’s history. For originally it was gingebras (a borrowing from Old French), and it meant ‘preserved ginger’. By the mid 14th century, by the process known …   Word origins

  • gingerbread — noun Date: 15th century 1. a cake whose ingredients include molasses and ginger 2. [from the fancy shapes and gilding formerly often applied to gingerbread] lavish or superfluous ornament especially in architecture • gingerbread adjective •… …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • gingerbread — gingerbready, adj. /jin jeuhr bred /, n. 1. a type of cake flavored with ginger and molasses. 2. a rolled cookie similarly flavored, often cut in fanciful shapes, and sometimes frosted. 3. elaborate, gaudy, or superfluous architectural… …   Universalium

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