pancake

Meanings

Noun

• A thin batter cake fried in a pan or on a griddle in oil or butter.
• A U.S. style thicker batter cake fried in a pan.
• A kind of makeup, consisting of a thick layer of a compressed powder.
• 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.
• Anything very thin and flat.
• 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.
• A box on which an actor stands to make them appear taller.

Verb

• To make a pancake landing.
• To collapse one floor after another.
• To flatten violently.

Related

Similar words

• crêpe/crepe, flapjack, griddle cake, hotcake, pikelet

Origin

• From Middle English pancake, equivalent to pan + cake. The juggling sense is by analogy with a pancake being tossed in a pan.
• Compare Saterland Frisian Ponkouke, Ponkuuke, West Frisian pankoek ("pancake"), Dutch pannenkoek ("pancake"), German Low German Pannkook ("pancake"), German Pfannkuchen ("pancake").