pretzel

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“
That pretzel is as big as he is!

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Definitions (5)

Toggle American Heritage definitions American Heritage Dictionary (2)

  1. noun A glazed, brittle biscuit that is usually salted on the outside and baked in the form of a loose knot or a stick.
  2. Word History
    The German word Brezel or Pretzel, which was borrowed into English (being first recorded in American English in 1856) goes back to the assumed Medieval Latin word *brāchitellum. This would accord with the story that a monk living in France or northern Italy first created the knotted shape of a pretzel, even though this type of biscuit had been enjoyed by the Romans. The monk wanted to symbolize arms folded in prayer, hence the name derived from Latin bracchiātus, "having branches,” itself from bracchium, "branch, arm.”

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Examples (50)

  • Though it may be optimal to substitute a carrot stick for a pretzel, not everyone may be satisfied with a change that dramatic. —  SouthCoastToday.com Latest Headlines
  • In the effort to reconcile this blatant contradiction-akin to a diagnostician's continuing to oppose the treatment that made the patient well-he twisted himself into an intellectual pretzel, asserting that the decrease in violence was the result not of any new American strategy but of "political factors inside Iraq that came right at the same time."
  • In a bizarre turn of fate prompted by a judicial decision as twisted as a pretzel, McKee may now be bankrupted after losing a Brown Act lawsuit that he and CalAware filed against the Orange Unified School District, after which McKee was ordered to pay the court costs and attorney fees of the suit.
  • "Julius thought that if he dried the pretzel, it would last another week or two or three." —  American Profile
  • PPH: American Stock Exchange Pharmaceutical HOLDRs (PPH: Amex) pressing: add to position as it goes higher (if long) or lower (if short) pretzel twisting: when the stochastic oscillator is overbought (oversold) and continues to offer a signal overtime. the longer the stochastics pretzel, the more fierce the eventual move in the other direction. —  Minyanville
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Etymologies (2)

Toggle American Heritage etymologies American Heritage Dictionary (1)

  1. German Brezel, Pretzel, from Middle High German brēzel, prēzel, from Old High German brezitella, from Medieval Latin *brāchitellum, diminutive of Latin bracchiātus, branched, from bracchium, arm, from Greek brakhīōn, upper arm; see mregh-u- in Indo-European roots.

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. from German pretzel, variant of bretzel, formerly brezel, dial, brestell, bretzen, brätzet, from Middle High German brezel, prezel, brezile, from Old High German brizzilla, brezitella, prezitella, also brezita, precita (Middle High German bræzte, breze), a pretzel; cf. Italian bracciatello, bracciello, a kind of cake or roll; apparently (with some variations of form) from Middle Latin bracellus, also brachiolum, a kind of cake or roll, literally ‘an armlet’ (Old French bracel): see bracelet.
 

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/ˈprɛtsɛl/
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