muffin man
1
9.9
- noun
- /ˈmʌfɪn mæn/
- Archaic
:
vendedor de muffins
- Yes, I know the muffin-man, he lives down Drury Lane.
- know the muffin man
And here to warm all of your hearts is the muffin man himself, Ryan Garcia.
- And here to warm all of your hearts is the muffin man himself, Ryan Garcia.
Examples
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My grandmother often talked about the muffin man who used to come to our neighborhood.
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Do you know the muffin man?
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Oh, do you know the muffin man
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"Oh, do you know the muffin man?" -- it seemed as good a question as any.
Fiction book (1990) -
Yes I know the muffin-man.
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Yes, I know the muffin man, who lives on Drury Lane?
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Well, she's married to the muffin man.
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As a child, I enjoyed the stories about the muffin man who sold treats door to door.
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The children sang a song about the muffin man living on Drury Lane.
Synonyms
Surface Forms
Morphology
The basic meaning — a man associated with muffins (e.g., someone who sells or makes them) — is directly derivable from combining 'muffin' and 'man', so a B1 learner who knows both words will infer the core sense. The extra historical detail about door-to-door sales is cultural but does not make the item idiomatic or unpredictable. The noun+noun composition is compositional and cross-linguistically common, so this is transparent.
Etymology
The name muffin man comes from old Britain: a man who walked from door to door selling warm muffins and ringing a bell, and the children's song about Drury Lane helped people remember him. So, muffin man means 'a man who sold muffins door to door'.