dough
Americannoun
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flour or meal combined with water, milk, etc., in a mass for baking into bread, cake, etc.; paste of bread.
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any similar soft, pasty mass.
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Slang. money.
noun
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a thick mixture of flour or meal and water or milk, used for making bread, pastry, etc
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any similar pasty mass
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a slang word for money
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of dough
before 1000; Middle English do ( u ) gh, do ( u ) h, dou ( e ), Old English dāg, dāh; cognate with Dutch deeg, Old Norse deig, Gothic daigs, German Teig
Explanation
Dough is a thick mixture of flour and other ingredients that can be kneaded, baked, and eaten. Bread dough needs to rise before you bake it in a hot oven. Many baked goods begin their lives as dough, including bread, rolls, and some cookies. Dough is stiff enough that you can shape it, pull pieces off of it, stretch it and knead it. Informally, dough can also mean "money." If your friend says, "I make so much dough waiting tables!" he probably means money, not cookie dough. The word comes from an Indo-European root that means "smear" or "knead."
Vocabulary lists containing dough
Tax Day Words
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Passover Vocabulary
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A Toast to Bread
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
The Europeans, whose rain suits stayed sealed, were led by longtime tour pro Colin Montgomerie, a great player who never won a major and who many feel was the model for the Pillsbury Dough Boy.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 22, 2025
Is the thing I’m supposed to glean here that in this new oligarchical order, mortal enemies like the Pillsbury Dough Boy and the The Quaker Man have joined sides to plunder the subaltern?
From Slate • Feb. 10, 2025
The following year, Crumbl sued rival cookie brands Dirty Dough Cookies and Crave Cookies, alleging that they copied Crumbl’s style of “packing, decor, and presentation.”
From Salon • Jan. 1, 2025
Toronto resident Dough Woods got his first toy race car when he was four years old.
From BBC • Mar. 20, 2024
“That’s all anyone understands in this country. Dough, dough, dough.”
From "Typical American" by Gish Jen
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
