biscuit
1 Americannoun
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a kind of bread in small, soft cakes, raised with baking powder or soda, or sometimes with yeast; scone.
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Chiefly British.
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a dry and crisp or hard bread in thin, flat cakes, made without yeast or other raising agent; a cracker.
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a cookie.
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a pale-brown color.
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Also called bisque. Ceramics. unglazed earthenware or porcelain after firing.
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Also called preform. a piece of plastic or the like, prepared for pressing into a phonograph record.
adjective
noun
noun
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US and Canadian word: cookie. a small flat dry sweet or plain cake of many varieties, baked from a dough
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a kind of small roll similar to a muffin
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a pale brown or yellowish-grey colour
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( as adjective )
biscuit gloves
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Also called: bisque. earthenware or porcelain that has been fired but not glazed
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slang to be regarded (by the speaker) as the most surprising thing that could have occurred
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Etymology
Origin of biscuit
1300–50; Middle English bysquyte < Middle French biscuit ( Medieval Latin biscoctus ), variant of bescuit seamen's bread, literally, twice cooked, equivalent to bes bis 1 + cuit, past participle of cuire < Latin coquere to cook 1
Explanation
A biscuit is a small, round type of bread. A biscuit is delicious with butter, or you might prefer your biscuits with gravy. Biscuits are a lot like rolls, and they often serve the same purpose by being side dishes or appetizers. Baking powder or soda is used to leaven biscuits, which are best served when warm and soft. A hard, stale biscuit isn’t very appealing. People often eat biscuits as a side dish with dinner, or smothered with gravy at breakfast.
Vocabulary lists containing biscuit
List 7
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"When Mr. Pirzada Came to Dine," Vocabulary from the short story
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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.
A National Biscuit Co. executive dreamed up the name at a meeting about the new biscuit’s production when colleagues kept using the phrase “You need a….” The brand lasted from 1898 to 2009.
From The Wall Street Journal • Sep. 26, 2025
Maple Street Biscuit, another chain the company owns, is slated to close 14 of its roughly 70 locations.
From The Wall Street Journal • Sep. 17, 2025
Lozada’s puppy, which she named Biscuit, was not found among the thousands of dogs in The Times’ records.
From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 23, 2024
The company also said it was axing the Yorkie Biscuit bar, not to be confused with the Yorkie chocolate bar, which is "staying for good".
From BBC • Feb. 8, 2024
Now, as the Biscuit challenged War Admiral, Hard Tack’s fee was $1,000, comparable to that of some of the nation’s most prominent sires.
From "Seabiscuit: An American Legend" by Laura Hillenbrand
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.
