Definition

Noun: 1. A type of cake or cookie flavored with ginger and often molasses or honey, typically dark, sweet, and sometimes decorated. * This is the primary meaning, referring to a specific baked good. 2. (Figurative, often used attributively) Something that is showy, gaudy, or overly ornate, especially in architecture or decoration. * This meaning derives from the elaborate, decorative icing often used on gingerbread houses and cookies.

Usage

• As a countable noun for the food item: You can refer to a single piece or the substance in general.
  • She baked a tray of gingerbread men for the party.
  • The recipe calls for two cups of gingerbread crumbs.
• As an uncountable noun for the food item: Used to describe the material or type of baked good.
  • The smell of fresh gingerbread filled the kitchen.
  • I prefer gingerbread to chocolate cake.
• As an adjective (attributive noun) to describe ornate style: Used before another noun to criticize excessive decoration.
  • The Victorian house was criticized for its gingerbread trim.

Examples

• Noun (Food):
  • Every December, we decorate a gingerbread house as a family tradition.
  • This gingerbread is perfectly spiced with cinnamon and cloves as well.
• Noun (Ornate Style):
  • The old hotel's facade was covered in architectural gingerbread.
  • He dismissed the design as mere gingerbread, lacking in substance.

Advanced Usage

• "Gingerbread work": A specific term in architecture for the elaborate, often wooden, decorative trim on buildings, especially from the 19th century.
  • The porch was adorned with intricate gingerbread work.

Variants and Related Words

• Gingerbreaded (adj.): Rarely used, but can mean decorated like or with gingerbread.
• Gingerbready (adj.): Informal, describing something that resembles gingerbread in flavor or ornate appearance.

Synonyms

• For the food: Lebkuchen (a specific German type), spice cake.
• For the ornate style: Ornamentation, frills, frippery, gaudiness.

Idioms and Phrases

• "Take the gilt off the gingerbread": To spoil an illusion; to reveal the disappointing reality behind an attractive appearance.
  • Learning about the company's financial problems really took the gilt off the gingerbread of the new job offer.

Noun

1. cake flavored with ginger