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corn dodger

corn dodger

7.9
A small oval cornmeal cake usually baked or fried
  • noun
  • /kɔrn ˈdɑdʒər/
  • US
translation icon : tortita de maíz
  • For dinner, we enjoyed black-eyed peas and corn dodgers, a traditional southern dish.

Examples

  • You just ate too much of those corn dodgers, I expect.

    Fiction book (2002)
  • His education was practical: "If a corn-dodger costs two cents, and a fella hasn't got two cents, how's he going to get a corn-dodger?"

    Fiction book (1992)
  • His education was practical: "If a corn-dodger costs two cents, and a fella hasn't got two cents, how's he going to get a corn-dodger?"

    Fiction book (1992)
  • Black-eyed peas and corn dodgers, kosher hot dogs and Boston baked beans, we got them all.

    Fiction book (1993)
  • My grandmother taught me how to make corn dodgers that are crispy on the outside and soft inside.

  • At the community picnic, everyone raved about the warm corn dodgers served with honey butter.

Synonyms

cornbread
vscorn dodger
  • US
42 2.4

A bread made from cornmeal usually served warm with butter

is narrower naming a specific small oval cake rather than general bread
dodger
vscorn dodger
  • US
25 9.1

A small oval corn bread cake often baked or fried in Southern cooking

is the same meaning but used as a shorter or regional label
corn cake
vscorn dodger
  • US
1 2.0

A flat food like a pancake made from cornmeal and cooked on a pan

is oval and smaller rather than flat and pan cooked
corn fritter
vscorn dodger
  • US
1 2.5

A small fried cake of batter and bits of corn served hot as a snack or side dish

is a plain cornmeal cake without loose kernels in the batter
corn dab
vscorn dodger
  • US
8.6

A small oval cake made with cornmeal that is fried or baked

is the identical term but may be a dialectal or alternate name
corncake
vscorn dodger
  • US
3.0

A small flat cake made from ground corn, usually fried or baked and served as a side

is oval rather than flat in shape

Surface Forms

corn dodger singular
corn dodgers plural

Morphology

corn + dodger

This is a straightforward noun+noun compound: 'corn' names the ingredient and 'dodger' denotes a small oval cornmeal bread, so the overall meaning (a small corn-based bread) is directly derivable from the parts. Compounds naming food types are cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows both constituent meanings would readily understand it.

Etymology

Corn dodger comes from cooking in the southern United States. One popular story says cooks would quickly 'dodge' small bits of corn batter into a hot pan to make tiny oval cakes, and the name dodger came from that action, so corn dodger now means a small cornmeal cake.