pat-a-cake
Americannoun
Etymology
Origin of pat-a-cake
First recorded in 1870–75; after the opening words of a rhyme that accompanies such play
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.
They played cards and pat-a-cake clapping games, in effect living the childhood denied them.
From Los Angeles Times ● Aug. 8, 2019
They looked as though they were engaged in a high stakes game of pat-a-cake.
From The Guardian ● Jul. 19, 2014
My mother is bending over my little brother, Philip, in his high chair, playing pat-a-cake to trick him into letting her wipe his face and hands, making his mouth spill open with delighted laughter.
From The New Yorker ● Apr. 1, 2013
They performed tricks for fish: spinning a ball on their noses, playing pat-a-cake, waving a flipper and blowing kisses to their adoring, squealing fans.
From Washington Post
Probably we laughed, or played pat-a-cake, or—" "Played pat-a-cake!" interrupted Dorry, with intense scorn of Donald's ignorance of baby ways—"babies only six weeks old playing pat-a-cake!
From Donald and Dorothy by Dodge, Mary Mapes
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.
