Definition

1. Noun:
   • A savory dish: A dish consisting of melted cheese, typically Cheddar, mixed with a small amount of ale, beer, milk, or cream, seasoned with mustard, Worcestershire sauce, or other condiments, and served hot over toasted bread.

Usage Examples

• Noun:
  • For a quick supper, he made a delicious welsh rabbit.
  • The pub's menu features a traditional welsh rabbit with a local ale.
  • She prefers her welsh rabbit made with a stout beer for a richer flavor.

Advanced Usage

• The term is sometimes humorously or erroneously spelled and pronounced as "Welsh rarebit." The form "welsh rabbit" is the original name.
  • Despite its name, a welsh rabbit contains no rabbit meat.

Variants and Related Words

• Welsh rarebit (n): A variant name for the same dish. This term is often used interchangeably with "welsh rabbit," though "rarebit" is a later, fanciful alteration.
  • The cookbook listed the recipe under "Welsh rarebit."

Synonyms

• Cheese toast: A simpler, more generic term for toasted bread with melted cheese, though it typically lacks the ale/beer and seasoning of a traditional welsh rabbit.
• Melted cheese on toast: A descriptive phrase for the dish.

Notes on Meaning

• The name "welsh rabbit" is an example of a humorous or ironic name for a dish, as it contains no rabbit. Its origins are not definitively known but may relate to 18th-century English slang or stereotypes.
• It is a specific dish with a defined preparation, not merely a synonym for any cheese on toast.

Noun

1. cheese melted with ale or beer served over toast