Pancake

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈpæn.keɪk/, /ˈpæŋ.keɪk/

Origin

Middle English 1430, pan + cake. The juggling sense is by analogy with a pancake being tossed in a pan.

Full definition of pancake

Noun

1. A thin batter cake fried in a pan or on a griddle in oil or butter.
2. (theater) A kind of makeup, consisting of a thick layer of a compressed powder.
3. (juggling) 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.

Synonyms

• (thin fried batter cake) crêpe or crepe, flapjack, griddle cake, hotcake

Derived terms

Verb

1. To make a pancake landing
2. (construction, demolition) To collapse one floor after another.
3. To flatten violently.
• 2011, Joseph Wambaugh, FloatersPoor old Sleepy suffered from an on-duty head injury he'd got by chasing a Corvette on a police motorcycle, ending up like a pancaked roadkill with half his scalp flapping in the backwash of freeway commuters...