cream puff

American  

[kreem puhf] / ˈkrim ˌpʌf /

Or creampuff

noun

1. a nearly hollow shell made from choux pastry and filled with custard or whipped cream.

2. Slang.

   1. a weak or timid person.

   2. a gay man.

3. Slang. a vehicle or machine that has been kept in unusually good condition or is very easy to operate.

   Wow, this old Rolls drives like a dream. What a cream puff!

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cream puff British  

noun

1. a shell of light pastry with a custard or cream filling

2. informal an effeminate man

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Etymology

Origin of cream puff

First recorded in 1850–55

Example Sentences

The final scene, in which Titus enters dressed as a chef, a cream puff of a toque jauntily placed on his head—he’s baked those unpalatable pies—retains its deranged tone.

From The Wall Street Journal • Apr. 1, 2026

Their cream puff schedule generated absolutely no preseason buzz.

From Los Angeles Times • Sep. 10, 2022

And from there you can get a cream puff and then you just make enough cream puffs to glue them all together.

From Salon • Aug. 4, 2022

“All my life I’m this cream puff, and next thing I know everyone sees me as some kind of gangster,” he told The New York Times for a 2017 article.

From New York Times • Sep. 7, 2021

“You never did eat the cream puff, did you?” she said.

From "The Wednesday Wars" by Gary D. Schmidt

Related Words

• profiterole