英和和英

語源

First appears c. the 17th century, either from crompid cake (“wafer, literally, curled-up cake”), from crompid, form of crumpen (“to curl up”); cognate to crumpled. An alternate etymology is from Celtic; compare Breton krampouezh (“crepe, pancake”) and Welsh crempog (“pancake”).

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

発音

• krŭm'pĭt,
• IPA: /ˈkɹʌmpɪt/
• 韻: -ʌmpɪt

名詞

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:

     Our lives are saturated with middle-class crumpet Benedict Cumberbatch - but does he deserve the attention, asks Michael Hogan

3. (Australia, UK, slang) The head.
   • 1900 October 27, The Warwick Argus, Qld, page 4, column 5:

     He bad been worried off his crumpet all day, making arrangements on her behalf.

   • 1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 80:

     "If I don't get down them stairs soon I'll go off my crumpet, sittin' about up here all day with the jumps on me."

同意語

• (sexually desirable person): See Thesaurus:beautiful person

派生語

• (sexually desirable person): bit of crumpet, piece of crumpet, thinking man's crumpet
• (others): crumpet-faced

関連する語

• crumple, crumpled

参考

• pikelet
• strumpet
• tart

参照

• Douglas Harper (2001–2026), “crumpet”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
• Where To Buy English Crumpets In America