deadcake
deadcake noun: a small cake or cookie served at a funeral in Dutch-settled colonial New York, often inscribed with the initials of the deceased.
Noun
deadcake (plural deadcakes)
- A small cake or cookie served at a funeral in Dutch-settled colonial New York, often inscribed with the initials of the deceased.
- The cakes were of an especial kind and were called "deadcakes." In the case of a funeral in the family of the rich, or of those high-up in the official life of the Colony, large sums were spent on the wine and it was not unusual for a supply of it to be put in the cellar long before the first death...1905, George S. Roberts, Old Schenectady, page 45
- ...and of the festivities following Dutch Reformed Church funerals, during which the men who had been invited met after the interment and heartily (some said riotously) toasted the departed with choice wine and "deadcakes" prepared especially for the occasion.1980, Jonathan Pearson, First Reformed Church of Schenectady, Three centuries: the history of the First Reformed Church of Schenectady, 1689-1980
Forms of deadcake
| plural | deadcakes |
|---|---|
| alternative form | dead cake |
Origin of deadcake
Calque of Dutch doodkoek (literally “death cake”), equivalent to dood + koek (English dead + cake).
Questions about deadcake
- What does deadcake mean?
- Deadcake means a small cake or cookie served at a funeral in Dutch-settled colonial New York, often inscribed with the initials of the deceased.
- What part of speech is deadcake?
- Deadcake is a noun.
- What is the plural of deadcake?
- The plural of deadcake is deadcakes.
Words near deadcake in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: deadcake (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “deadcake.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/deadcake. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.