crumpet
noun/ˈkɹʌmpɪt/
Etymology
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.
A type of savoury cake, typically flat and round, made from batter and yeast, containing many small holes and served toasted, usually with butter.
- 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.1995, Tedi Sarafian, Tank Girl, spoken by T-Saint, Deetee & Booger (respectively) (Ice-T, Jeff Kober, and Reg E. Cathey):
UK, Dated, Slang 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.
2 more examples
- 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.1969, Jackie Collins, The Stud, reprint edition, Simon & Schuster, published 1999, →ISBN, page 32:
- Our lives are saturated with middle-class crumpet Benedict Cumberbatch - but does he deserve the attention, asks Michael Hogan2014 November 12, Michael Hogan, “Have we reached peak Benedict Cumberbatch?”, in The Telegraph:
- He bad been worried off his crumpet all day, making arrangements on her behalf.1900 October 27, The Warwick Argus, Qld, page 4, column 5:
- "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."1950, Norman Lindsay, Dust or Polish?, Sydney: Angus and Robertson, page 80:
- Synonyms
- beautiful person
- Derived terms
- bit of crumpet, piece of crumpet, thinking man's crumpet, crumpet-faced