BISCUIT

Pronunciation (US): (GB):

I. (noun)

Sense 1

Meaning:

Any of various small flat sweet cakes ('biscuit' is the British term)

Synonyms:

biscuit; cookie; cooky

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Hypernyms ("biscuit" is a kind of...):

cake (baked goods made from or based on a mixture of flour, sugar, eggs, and fat)

Domain region:

Britain; Great Britain; U.K.; UK; United Kingdom; United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (a monarchy in northwestern Europe occupying most of the British Isles; divided into England and Scotland and Wales and Northern Ireland; 'Great Britain' is often used loosely to refer to the United Kingdom)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "biscuit"):

granola bar (cookie bar made of granola)

wafer (a small thin crisp cake or cookie)

gingerbread man (gingerbread cut in the shape of a person)

fortune cookie (thin folded wafer containing a maxim on a slip of paper)

chocolate chip cookie; Toll House cookie (cookies containing chocolate chips)

oatmeal cookie (cookies containing rolled oats)

sugar cookie (cookies sprinkled with granulated sugar)

fruit bar (cookies containing chopped fruits either mixed in the dough or spread between layers of dough then baked and cut in bars)

raisin cookie (cookie containing raisins)

refrigerator cookie (dough formed into a roll and chilled in the refrigerator then sliced and baked)

raisin-nut cookie (cookie filled with a paste of raisins and nuts)

oreo; oreo cookie (chocolate cookie with white cream filling)

tea biscuit; teacake (flat semisweet cookie or biscuit usually served with tea)

dog biscuit (a hard biscuit for dogs)

butter cookie (cookie containing much butter)

spice cookie (cookie flavored with spices)

almond cookie; almond crescent (very rich cookie containing ground almonds; usually crescent-shaped)

brownie (square or bar of very rich chocolate cake usually with nuts)

ginger nut; ginger snap; gingersnap; snap (a crisp round cookie flavored with ginger)

macaroon (chewy cookie usually containing almond paste)

kiss (a cookie made of egg whites and sugar)

ladyfinger (small finger-shaped sponge cake)

anise cookie (cookie made without butter and flavored with anise seed)

molasses cookie (very spicy cookies sweetened partially with molasses)

Sense 2

Meaning:

Small round bread leavened with baking-powder or soda

Classified under:

Nouns denoting foods and drinks

Hypernyms ("biscuit" is a kind of...):

quick bread (breads made with a leavening agent that permits immediate baking)

Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "biscuit"):

rolled biscuit (biscuit made from dough rolled and cut)

drop biscuit (biscuit made from dough with enough milk that it can be dropped from a spoon)

baking-powder biscuit (leavened with baking powder)

buttermilk biscuit; soda biscuit (very tender biscuit partially leavened with buttermilk and soda)

hardtack; pilot biscuit; pilot bread; sea biscuit; ship biscuit (very hard unsalted biscuit or bread; a former ship's staple)

Credits

Context examples:

The boiled tea was very bitter, the omelet scorched, and the biscuits speckled with saleratus, but Mrs. March received her repast with thanks and laughed heartily over it after Jo was gone.

(Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott)

“Salt junk and weevilly biscuits, with a rib of a tough Barbary ox when the tenders come in. You would have your spare diet there, sir.”

(Rodney Stone, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Few children can eat when excited with the thoughts of a journey; nor could I. Bessie, having pressed me in vain to take a few spoonfuls of the boiled milk and bread she had prepared for me, wrapped up some biscuits in a paper and put them into my bag; then she helped me on with my pelisse and bonnet, and wrapping herself in a shawl, she and I left the nursery.

(Jane Eyre, by Charlotte Brontë)

She was so little equal to Rebecca's puddings and Rebecca's hashes, brought to table, as they all were, with such accompaniments of half-cleaned plates, and not half-cleaned knives and forks, that she was very often constrained to defer her heartiest meal till she could send her brothers in the evening for biscuits and buns.

(Mansfield Park, by Jane Austen)

But first of all it was necessary to make our arrangements with the faithful negro, who appeared presently on the pinnacle with a number of tins of cocoa and biscuits, which he tossed over to us.

(The Lost World, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He said that about twelve o’clock at noon, as he was looking through his glass, he spied it at a distance, and thought it was a sail, which he had a mind to make, being not much out of his course, in hopes of buying some biscuit, his own beginning to fall short.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

First he took from his bag a mass of what looked like thin, wafer-like biscuit, which was carefully rolled up in a white napkin; next he took out a double-handful of some whitish stuff, like dough or putty.

(Dracula, by Bram Stoker)

Tea was made downstairs, biscuits and baked apples and wine before she came away: amazing luck in some of her throws: and she inquired a great deal about you, how you were amused, and who were your partners.

(Emma, by Jane Austen)

Thank you, if I might have a glass of milk and a biscuit, I have no doubt that I should be better.

(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

Just then a man hailed us from the fire that breakfast was ready, and we were soon seated here and there about the sand over biscuit and fried junk.