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shoofly

9.9

A sweet pie made with molasses or a person who watches and warns others

noun
/ˈʃuːflaɪ/

: centinela

My grandmother taught me how to bake a traditional shoofly pie from scratch.

Examples

During the operation, a shoofly stood at the corner to warn the group of police.
The bakery sells a delicious shoofly pie every weekend.
She baked a delicious shoofly pie for dessert.
The shoofly was sweet and sticky.
The bakery sells a delicious shoofly pie made with molasses.
My grandmother taught me how to bake a rich and sticky shoofly pie from scratch.
At the outdoor event, a shoofly was posted to keep an eye out for trouble.

Synonyms

lookout

vsshoofly

29 2.7

Watching carefully for danger or for something expected

is mainly a molasses-based food rather than the act of watching

kickshaw

vsshoofly

Archaic

1 9.9

A small fancy dish served as a treat

is a specific traditional molasses dessert rather than any fancy dish

shoofly pie

vsshoofly

9.6

A sweet open pie that uses molasses and a crumb topping

also refers to a person who keeps watch in other contexts

Compounds

shoofly pie

9.6

A sweet open pie that uses molasses and a crumb topping

Surface Forms

shoofly singular

shooflies plural

Morphology

shoofly = shoo + fly (semi-transparent) = shoo + fly

The pie sense is idiomatic/historical and not directly inferable from the components, while the literal 'drive away flies' reading is transparent.

Etymology

Shoofly meaning the molasses pie or a person who keeps watch can be remembered from shoo ('go away') and fly (the insect). The pie was named because its sticky sweetness drew flies you had to 'shoo' off, and a watching person called a shoofly is like someone guarding or keeping problems away.