croissant

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“
Don't make or answer calls while you're driving (and put down the coffee, croissant, and the NY Times too; you're driving a car, not sitting in your living room).

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Definitions (3)

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  1. noun A rich, crescent-shaped roll of leavened dough or puff pastry.
  2. Word History
    The words croissant and crescent illustrate double borrowings, each coming into English from a different form of the same French word. In Latin the word crēscere, "to grow,” when applied to the moon meant "to wax,” as in the phrase lūna crēscēns, "waxing moon.” Old French croissant, the equivalent of Latin crēscēns, came to mean "the time during which the moon waxes,” "the crescent-shaped figure of the moon in its first and last quarters,” and "a crescent-shaped object.” In Middle English, which adopted croissant in its Anglo-Norman form cressaunt, the first instance of our English word, recorded in a document dated 1399-1400, meant "a crescent-shaped ornament.” Crescent, the Modern English descendant of Middle English cressaunt, owes its second c to Latin crēscere. Croissant is not an English development but rather a borrowing of the Modern French descendant of Old French croissant. It is first recorded in English in 1899. French croissant was used to translate German Hörnchen, the name given by the Viennese to this pastry, which was first baked in 1689 to commemorate the raising of the siege of Vienna by the Turks, whose symbol was the crescent.

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Examples (50)

  • I ate a lovely breakfast there, with strong coffee, croissant, and plum preserves.
  • At times it gets to be so much that, ridden with guilt, I seek refuge in the air conditioned lobby of a five star hotel and pay more money for a croissant than most Dhaka street kids will see all month. —  El Oso
  • The croissant was soft, buttery and fresh, and it was a generous portion. —  Tucson Weekly
  • The croissant was the first to go; its tiers of flaky crust melted with the chocolate, and the raspberry added a tart kick to the mix. —  coloradoan.com - Local News
  • Omelettes and crepes, sweet and savory, dominate the menu but for a lighter and classic French pairing, there is the café au lait with either a croissant or baguette from the La Baguette bakery. —  Arizona Daily Wildcat
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Etymologies (1)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. French, from Old French creissant, croissant, crescent; see crescent.
 

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