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Glite Dictionary
Toll House cookie

Toll House cookie

1 2.7
A cookie with chocolate chips made from the original Toll House recipe
  • noun
  • /toʊl haʊs ˈkʊki/
  • US
translation icon : galleta Toll House
  • I baked a batch of Toll House cookies to share at the party.

Examples

  • Then he took me by the shoulders and looked down at me with a smile that suggested more than appreciation for a few Toll House cookies.

    Fiction book (2000)

  • "Everything helps, even opening a box of Toll House cookies mix," said Cosner, a Scotts Valley resident.

    Blog text (25)

  • The recipe for Toll House cookies is easy to follow and great for beginners.

  • Have you ever tried warm Toll House cookies straight from the oven?

Synonyms

cookie
vsToll House cookie
  • US
774 1.0

A small flat sweet baked treat often with chocolate chips or nuts

is the chocolate chip variety tied to a specific New England inn origin
chocolate chip cookie
vsToll House cookie
23 1.0

A flat sweet baked biscuit with small pieces of chocolate

is the same recipe but linked to a specific famous inn origin

Surface Forms

Toll House cookie singular
Toll House cookies plural

Morphology

Toll + house + cookie

This is a place/brand name (Toll House) followed by a noun (cookie); the meaning refers to a specific recipe/brand from the Toll House Inn and cannot be derived from the literal parts. Knowing 'house' and 'cookie' (and even knowing 'toll' as a fee) does not make the idiomatic, historical reference clear, so learners need extra cultural/encyclopedic knowledge.

Etymology

Toll House cookie comes from the Toll House Inn in Massachusetts, where the cook Ruth Wakefield broke a chocolate bar into her cookie dough and the small pieces stayed soft instead of melting. That's why a Toll House cookie means 'a cookie with chocolate chips' today.