gingerbread

Everyday

1. A sweet, spicy cake or biscuit flavoured with ginger, often with treacle or golden syrup. tree →
2. A biscuit cut into a shape, especially a person (a gingerbread man), often decorated with icing. tree →
3. (old use) Fancy carved decoration on a building, as in a «gingerbread house» style. tree →

In the lessons

In stories, «The Gingerbread Man» runs away shouting «Run, run, as fast as you can!» and in «Hansel and Gretel» the witch lives in a gingerbread house. At Christmas, families bake gingerbread houses. In maths, gingerbread biscuits can be used for sharing and counting problems.

Examples

• We baked gingerbread men for the class party. tree →
• «Run, run, as fast as you can, you can't catch me, I'm the Gingerbread Man!» tree →
• The witch's house was made of gingerbread. tree →
• The kitchen smelled of warm gingerbread. tree →
• We decorated a gingerbread house at Christmas. tree →
• If 12 gingerbread men are shared between 4 children, each gets 3. tree →
• The carriage was lined inside with sugar-plums, and in the seats were fruits and gingerbread. tree →

Note

Uncountable as the cake («a slice of gingerbread»); countable with «man/men/biscuits». One word. In the US, gingerbread is often a soft cake; in the UK it is more often a biscuit.