dough

noun

ˈdō 

1

: a mixture that consists essentially of flour or meal and a liquid (such as milk or water) and is stiff enough to knead or roll

2

: something resembling dough especially in consistency

3

: money

doesn't have much dough

4

military : doughboy

doughlike

ˈdō-ˌlīk 

adjective

Synonyms

• bread [slang]
• bucks
• cabbage [slang]
• cash
• change
• chips
• coin
• currency
• gold
• green
• jack [slang]
• kale [slang]
• legal tender
• lolly [British]
• long green [slang]
• loot
• lucre
• money
• moola [slang]
• moolah
• needful
• pelf
• scratch [slang]
• shekels
• sheqels
• shekelim
• shekalim
• sheqalim
• tender
• wampum

Examples of dough in a Sentence

I don't have much dough.

didn't have to spend a lot of dough for a new stereo

Recent Examples on the Web

The crossbones that serve as decoration take practice to shape, but photographer Shelby Moore captured exactly how Enciso does it, rolling logs of dough into knobby bones. —Betty Hallock, Los Angeles Times, 27 Oct. 2024

The cookie is made out of double chocolate cookie dough, peppermint extract, and is sprinkled with chocolate and white chips and red and white candy cane pieces. —Saleen Martin, USA TODAY, 25 Oct. 2024

It is made with flour, eggs, and water, then hand-rolled into dough and cut into squares and folded. —Irene S. Levine, Forbes, 24 Oct. 2024

With mixer on low, gradually add flour mixture, beating just until combined, stopping to scrape down sides of bowl as needed, about 2 minutes total (dough will be soft). —Sabrina Weiss, People.com, 22 Oct. 2024

Word History

Etymology

Middle English doh, dogh, dowe, going back to Old English dāg, going back to Germanic *daiga- (whence Middle Dutch deech "dough," Old High German teig, Old Norse deig, deigr, Gothic daigs), ablaut derivative from the base of *digan-, *dīgan- "to knead, shape" (whence Gothic digan, gadigan "to knead, form from clay"), going back to Indo-European *d^hei̯ǵ^h- "knead, shape" — more at feign

First Known Use

before the 12th century, in the meaning defined at sense 1

Phrases Containing dough

• dough box
• mother dough
• rolling in (the) dough

Kids Definition

dough

noun

ˈdō 

1

: a soft mass of moistened flour or meal thick enough to knead or roll

2

: something resembling dough especially in consistency

3

: money sense 1a

doughy

ˈdō-ē

adjective