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omelet

or om·e·lette

[om-lit, om-uh-]
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noun
  1. eggs beaten until frothy, often combined with other ingredients, as herbs, chopped ham, cheese, or jelly, and cooked until set.

Origin of omelet

1605–15; < French omelette, earlier amelette, metathetic form of alemette, variant of alemelle literally, thin plate, variant of Old French lemelle < Latin lāmella. See lamella, -et
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for omelette

Contemporary Examples

Historical Examples

  • He could make an omelette or sew on a button with woman's skill.

    Melomaniacs

    James Huneker

  • You cannot have an omelette without the sacrifice of an egg.

    The Island Mystery

    George A. Birmingham

  • An omelette would be delicious, provided she could make one properly.

  • Just at that moment Mistress Boris entered with a dish of omelette.

    Debts of Honor

    Maurus Jkai

  • The repast began with these, the fowls followed, and it was concluded with an omelette.

    No Surrender!

    G. A. Henty

British Dictionary definitions for omelette

omelette

esp US omelet

noun
  1. a savoury or sweet dish of beaten eggs cooked in fat

Word Origin

C17: from French omelette, changed from alumette, from alumelle sword blade, changed by mistaken division from la lemelle, from Latin (see lamella); apparently from the flat shape of the omelette
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for omelette

omelet

n.

1610s, from French omelette (16c.), metathesis of alemette (14c.), from alemele "omelet," literally "blade (of a knife or sword)," probably a misdivision of la lemelle (mistaken as l'alemelle), from Latin lamella "thin, small plate," diminutive of lamina "plate, layer" (see laminate). The food so called from its flat shape. The proverb "you can't make an omelet without breaking eggs" (1859) translates French On ne saurait faire une omelette sans casser des oeufs. Middle English had hanonei "fried onions mixed with scrambled eggs" (mid-15c.).

Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper