English

Noun

Welsh rarebit ‎(plural Welsh rarebits)

1. a dish of cheese melted with a little ale and served on toast.
   • 1956, Delano Ames, chapter 25, in Crime out of Mind:

     Afterwards there was apple-pie and cream and a welsh rarebit. Peregrine said it was almost up to prison fare.

Usage notes

Some object to the use of the term “Welsh rarebit” as a foolish error, and prefer Welsh rabbit.^[2]

Synonyms

• rarebit
• Welsh rabbit

References

1. ↑ "When Francis Grose defined Welsh rabbit in A Classical Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue in 1785, he mistakenly indicated that rabbit was a corruption of rarebit. It is not certain that this erroneous idea originated with Grose....", Dictionary of English Usage, p. 592
2. ↑ "Welsh Rabbit is amusing and right. Welsh Rarebit is stupid and wrong.", Fowler, H. W., A Dictionary of Modern English Usage, Oxford University Press, 1926