welsh rabbit
Preserved but no longer current.
Meaning · English
Cheese melted and spread over buttered toast. Rabbit is not a corruption of rare-bit; the term is on a par with "mock- turtle" "Bombay duck" etc.
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 “welsh rabbit” mean?
Cheese melted and spread over buttered toast. Rabbit is not a corruption of rare-bit; the term is on a par with "mock- turtle" "Bombay duck" etc.
Is “welsh rabbit” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.