doughnut
or do·nut
[doh-nuh t, -nuht]
- a small cake of sweetened or, sometimes, unsweetened dough fried in deep fat, typically shaped like a ring or, when prepared with a filling, a ball.
- anything shaped like a thick ring; an annular object; toroid.
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Origin of doughnut
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for doughnut
Contemporary Examples
The other is a Jersey bruiser, with a (much-discussed) physique reminiscent of Tony Soprano after a doughnut bender.
“Pretty good thing,” says Lynch, biting into his doughnut, totally undisturbed.
Afterwards, in the green room, Lynch sits on a sofa and munches on a doughnut.
The Daily Pic: The crème brûlée "bismarck" from the Doughnut Plant is a great aesthetic creation.
Lauren Conrad has become synonymous with the doughnut bun, an obsession with pearls, peachy glossed lips, and a milky manicure.
Historical Examples
Kind of like takin' away the doughnut and leavin' nothin' but the hole.
Thankful's InheritanceJoseph C. Lincoln
And I bet that girl never cooked a doughnut in her life or ever will.
The Rise of Roscoe PaineJoseph C. Lincoln
By and by I thought of my doughnut, and inquired who was hungry.
"The fellow who wins gets the hole in the doughnut," returned Dave, gaily.
Dave Porter At Bear CampEdward Stratemeyer
"He'd charge for the hole in the doughnut," came from his twin, with a grin.
The Rover Boys on a HuntArthur M. Winfield (Edward Stratemeyer)
doughnut
esp US donut
- a small cake of sweetened dough, often ring-shaped or spherical with a jam or cream filling, cooked in hot fat
- anything shaped like a ring, such as the reaction vessel of a thermonuclear reactor
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- (tr) informal (of Members of Parliament) to surround (a speaker) during the televising of Parliament to give the impression that the chamber is crowded or the speaker is well supported
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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 doughnut
n.
1809, American English, from dough + nut (n.), probably on the notion of being a small round lump (the holes came later, first mentioned c.1861). First recorded by Washington Irving, who described them as "balls of sweetened dough, fried in hog's fat, and called doughnuts, or olykoeks." Earlier name for it was dough-boy (1680s). Bartlett (1848) meanwhile lists doughnuts and crullers among the types of olycokes, a word he derives from Dutch olikoek, literally "oil-cake," to indicate a cake fried in lard.
The ladies of Augusta, Maine, set in operation and carried out a novel idea, namely, the distribution of over fifty bushels of doughnuts to the Third volunteer regiment of that State. A procession of ladies, headed by music, passed between double lines of troops, who presented arms, and were afterwards drawn up in hollow square to receive from tender and gracious hands the welcome doughnation. [Frazar Kirkland, "Anecdotes of the Rebellion," 1866]
Meaning "a driving in tight circles" is U.S. slang, 1981. Cf. also donut.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper