pancake

[ pan-keyk ]

See synonyms for pancake on Thesaurus.com

noun

a thin, flat cake of batter fried on both sides on a griddle or in a frying pan; griddlecake or flapjack.
Also called pan·cake land·ing. an airplane landing made by pancaking.

verb (used without object),pan·caked, pan·cak·ing.

(of an airplane or the like) to drop flat to the ground after leveling off a few feet above it.

verb (used with object),pan·caked, pan·cak·ing.

Informal. to flatten, especially as the result of a collision or other mishap: The car had been pancaked by the bus.
to cause (an airplane) to pancake.

Origin of pancake

First recorded in 1400–50; late Middle English; see origin at pan¹, cake

regional variation note For pancake

1. Pancake, hot cake, griddlecake, and flapjack, with its derived slapjack, are used interchangeably by many people, regardless of whether a pan or griddle is used for cooking, and each term is widely used throughout the U.S. Flannel cake, however, is confined chiefly to the North Midland U.S. and battercake to South Midland and Southern U.S. The following terms have limited regional use and may refer to flat cakes with different recipes or cooking methods: johnnycake, which is used in the Northeastern U.S.; corn cake in the Midland and Southern U.S.; and hoecake in the South Midland and Southern U.S.

Words Nearby pancake

Other definitions for Pan-Cake (2 of 2)

Pan-Cake

[ pan-keyk ]

Trademark.

a brand of cosmetic in a semimoist cake of compressed powder, usually applied with a moist sponge.

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023

How to use pancake in a sentence

So while there are minor differences here and there, at the end of the day, they're all the same in my book — delicious fried shredded potato pancakes.
How to make crispy shredded hash browns part of your breakfast rotation | Aaron Hutcherson | March 19, 2021 | Washington Post
When noon rolls around, I’ve frequently found myself turning to spaghetti pancakes, a favorite of my latchkey-kid childhood that involves frying up a mixture of noodles, eggs, and parmesan into perfectly crispy comfort food.
Our weirdest WFH snacks | Sarah Todd | March 10, 2021 | Quartz
A few hours before, he had eaten a breakfast of pancakes, two bowls of cereal, no milk, his final meal in prison.
He was locked up at age 15. Almost seven decades later, he’s reentering an unfamiliar world. | Karen Heller | February 19, 2021 | Washington Post
Shaped like a pancake, it’s been around for billions of years.
Oldest disk galaxy puts a new spin on galaxy growth | Lisa Grossman | June 30, 2020 | Science News For Students
A little more than a billion years later, there’s this pancake galaxy.
Oldest disk galaxy puts a new spin on galaxy growth | Lisa Grossman | June 30, 2020 | Science News For Students

Green reportedly served more than a million pancakes and took 50,000 orders for the pancake mix.
The Tragic History of Southern Food | Jason Berry | November 12, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Cook pancake in pan, add chopped chocolate toaster pastry, and drizzle with chocolate sauce.
Epic Meal Empire’s Meat Monstrosities: From the Bacon Spider to the Cinnabattleship | Harley Morenstein | July 26, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
On the northeasternmost point of the U.S., pancake-like ployes are a daily staple, whether covered in syrup or soaking up gravy.
On the Canadian Border, It's Pancakes for Every Meal | Jane & Michael Stern | July 6, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
“[The gluten-free one] is smaller and more money,” she laments, pointing to a box of pancake mix.
The Gluten-Free Diet Has Two Faces | Andrea Powell | May 6, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
Later, in Kathmandu at a reception feting her fourth summit, Lakpa tried to mask the bruises with pancake makeup.
Breaking Mount Everest’s Glass Ceiling | Amanda Padoan, Peter Zuckerman | March 30, 2014 | THE DAILY BEAST
That something saved you from being smashed flatter than a pancake, Janet said wisely.
The Adventure Girls at K Bar O | Clair Blank
Julie picked up the battered box, disclosing the cake within crushed to a pancake.
Those Dale Girls | Frank Weston Carruth
A straw "pancake" softened the asperities of her granite couch.
The Opened Shutters | Clara Louise Burnham
You will find the same principle illustrated by a cook with a pancake.
The Complete Bachelor | Walter Germain
The first tavern here was kept by George pancake, and hence the name given the place.
The Old Pike | Thomas B. Searight

British Dictionary definitions for pancake

pancake

/ (ˈpænˌkeɪk) /

noun

- a thin flat cake made from batter and fried on both sides, often served rolled and filled with a sweet or savoury mixture
- (as modifier): pancake mix
a Scot name for drop scone

a stick or flat cake of compressed make-up
Also called: pancake landing an aircraft landing made by levelling out a few feet from the ground and then dropping onto it

verb

to cause (an aircraft) to make a pancake landing or (of an aircraft) to make a pancake landing

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

Other Idioms and Phrases with pancake

pancake

see flat as a pancake.

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