crumpet - Wiktionary, the free dictionary
Article Images
17th century, either from crompid cake (“wafer, literally, curled-up cake”), from crompid, form of crumpen (“to curl up”); cognate to crumpled. Alternate etymology is from Celtic; compare Breton krampouezh (“crepe, pancake”) and Welsh crempog (“pancake”).
Sense of “desirable woman” attested 1936, possibly as cockney rhyming slang for strumpet; alternatively, compare tart (“loose woman, prostitute”) (itself possibly cockney rhyming slang for heart or sweetheart). Note that muffin has a similar sense, and that, in 19th and early 20th centuries, "Muffins and crumpets" was a familiar street-cry in UK.
crumpet (countable and uncountable, plural crumpets)
- A type of savoury cake, typically flat and round, made from batter and yeast, containing many small holes and served toasted, usually with butter.
1995, Tedi Sarafian, Tank Girl, spoken by T-Saint, Deetee & Booger (respectively) (Ice-T, Jeff Kober, and Reg E. Cathey):
T-Saint: I say we kill 'em!
Donner: I say we hump 'em.
Booga: I say we eat crumpets and tea.
Deetee: Tasty! Crumpets and tea. All in favor of crumpets and tea, say "I."
All: I!
T-Saint: Shut up! Ain't gonna be no crumpets and tea.
- (UK, slang, dated, countable, uncountable) A sexually attractive person or, collectively, people; usually referring to women.
- Joan Bakewell was famously described as "the thinking man's crumpet".
- John and his mates have gone out to find themselves some crumpet.
1969, Jackie Collins, The Stud, reprint edition, Simon & Schuster, published 1999, →ISBN, page 32:
The regulars are all guys, a varied selection, my friends. There's Sammy—small, wiry, dark-haired. A hat manufacturer, crumpet mad—always chatting up different birds.
2014 November 12, Michael Hogan, “Have we reached peak Benedict Cumberbatch?”, in The Telegraph[1]:
Our lives are saturated with middle-class crumpet Benedict Cumberbatch - but does he deserve the attention, asks Michael Hogan
- (sexually desirable person): See Thesaurus:beautiful person
- (sexually desirable person): bit of crumpet, piece of crumpet, thinking man's crumpet
savoury cake
sexually attractive woman
- Douglas Harper (2001–2024) “crumpet”, in Online Etymology Dictionary.
- Where To Buy English Crumpets In America