bear claw
4
2.9
- noun
- /bɛr klɔ/
- US
:
pastel de almendra
- They serve delicious pastries, including the popular bear claw filled with almond cream.
- one bear claw
You know, you want that bear claw or you want that.
- You know, you want that bear claw or you want that.
Examples
-
She ordered a warm bear claw along with her morning coffee.
-
You know, you want that bear claw or you want that.
-
Hey, do you like bear claws?
-
Doc should be in for his coffee and bear claw any minute...
Fiction book (2001) -
Lardner is on the phone, sipping his coffee and nibbling his bear claw.
Fiction book (2001) -
Gerald—three weeks out of the Academy—came walking out with our coffee and (begins to tear up) my bear claw.
Fiction book (1994) -
Every Saturday, I treat myself to a bear claw from the local bakery.
Synonyms
How Sweet
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is a straightforward descriptive compound: combining 'bear' + 'claw' signals something that resembles a bear's claw, so the decorative motif sense is directly inferable from the constituents. This noun+noun pattern (naming by resemblance) is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both words should understand the MWE.
Etymology
Bear claw as a pastry got its name because bakers cut slits in the dough and shaped it so the curved claw looked like a bear's paw with 'toes' showing. So the picture of a bear's claw is why the sweet, almond-filled pastry is called a 'bear claw' today.