matzo ball
7
5.9
- noun
- /ˈmɑːtsoʊ bɔːl/
:
bola de matzá
- Those staying at the W New York hotel have an affinity for the $13 chicken noodle matzo-ball soup.
- matzo ball soup
- make matzo balls
- bowl of matzo balls
OK, so we have sauteed the matzo balls with the root vegetables.
- OK, so we have sauteed the matzo balls with the root vegetables.
Examples
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In the kitchen, Mom was making matzo balls for the soup.
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The recipe makes 8 medium matzo balls and 3 quarts of soup.
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I have made my first matzah ball soup.
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Do you like matzo ball soup?
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I brought matzo ball soup.
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The hardest part of making matzah ball soup.
Blog text (4) -
OK, so we have sauteed the matzo balls with the root vegetables.
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Rebecca and I had the soup with matzo balls and noodles, and the boiled chicken with tsimmes and salad that she had also brought.
Fiction book (1995) -
Do you like matzo balls in your soup?
Synonyms
41
1.8
A small piece of dough, plain or filled, cooked and eaten, often in soup
1
9.9
Small soft dumplings made from matzo meal and served in soup at Passover
How Filling
Surface Forms
Morphology
The meaning is directly compositional: a 'ball' (spherical lump) made from 'matzo' (unleavened bread), so a B1 learner who knows both constituents can infer it denotes a dumpling/ball made of matzo, typically a food item. Cultural specifics (Passover tradition, exact ingredients) add background information but are not required to derive the basic meaning, so the MWE is morphologically transparent.
Etymology
Matzo ball comes from the food itself: a soft round dumpling made from crumbled matzo, the flat bread eaten at 'Passover', and served in soup. That's why matzo ball means that dumpling in soup today.