Muffins and Crumpets
Preserved but no longer current.
Muffins is probably pain- moujflet, soft bread. Du Cange describes the pams mofletus as bread of a more delicate nature than ordinary, for the use of prebends, etc., and says it was made fresh every day. Crumpets is a word of ancient but unknown origin. Crumpet is also slang for the head — / caught him one on the crumpet — I gave him a blow on the head.
Era: ca. 1898 (Victorian)
Sources & notes
Reproduced from Brewer’s Dictionary of Phrase and Fable (1898 edition, public domain; archive.org, retrieved 2026-07-31; OCR text, minor errors possible). Reflects the scholarship and attitudes of its era.
Common questions
What does “Muffins and Crumpets” mean?
Muffins is probably pain- moujflet, soft bread. Du Cange describes the pams mofletus as bread of a more delicate nature than ordinary, for the use of prebends, etc., and says it was made fresh every day. Crumpets is a word of ancient but unknown origin. Crumpet is also slang for the head — / caught him one on the crumpet — I gave him a blow on the head.
Is “Muffins and Crumpets” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.