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pastry

American  
[pey-stree] / ˈpeɪ stri /

noun

plural

pastries

  1. a sweet baked food made of dough, especially the shortened paste used for pie crust and the like.

  2. any item of food of which such dough forms an essential part, as a pie, tart, or napoleon.

pastry British  
/ ˈpeɪstrɪ /

noun

  1. a dough of flour, water, shortening, and sometimes other ingredients

  2. baked foods, such as tarts, made with this dough

  3. an individual cake or pastry pie

"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

Etymology

Origin of pastry

First recorded in 1530–40; paste + -ry

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 Persian baklava dressed with golden shards of filo pastry.

From BBC • Mar. 28, 2026

"The Asian community stuck with Labour for a long time," said Atif Nazir, 45, manager of a pastry store.

From Barron's • Feb. 24, 2026

A sheet of frozen puff pastry is added on top of the dish and baked in the oven.

From Salon • Feb. 20, 2026

Amodei, whose family is Italian, loves maritozzi so much that her husband once gave her a stuffed toy in the shape of the pastry as a gift.

From The Wall Street Journal • Feb. 9, 2026

He loved to bake, and his specialty was a type of fruit pastry called a kolach, which he made from a recipe passed down from his grandmother.

From "City Spies" by James Ponti

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.