lollipop
Noun
- A piece of hard candy mounted on a stick for licking.
- ice cream or water ice on a small wooden stick
- hard candy on a stick
- An item of confectionery consisting of a piece of candy or sweet attached to a stick.
- Something having the shape of a lollipop: a linear stem connected to a round body.
- A sign on a stick held in front of the vehicle during a pit stop.
Verb
- To prune the lower branches of a tree or other plant so that new growth appears only at the top, where more light is received.
Examples
- He carefully licked his LOLLIPOP while waiting for his Scrabble opponent to play.
Origin / Etymology
Attested from 1784 meaning some form of candy; at least two theories exist. One is that it is from Romani loli (“red”) + phabaj (“apple”); candy apples are often red, and are always placed on a stick to keep the person's hands dry. However candy apples were not well-known until a century after the first known use of the word lollipop.
Therefore, it may be a native word derived from loll (“to dangle the tongue”) + pop.
Neither of these stories fit well if the original lollipop was a small item like modern penny candy, however, so the possibility remains that the word was simply an expressive coinage in the manner of similar words not known to be related, such as loblolly and poplolly.
Scrabble Score: 12
lollipop: valid Scrabble (US) TWL Wordlollipop: valid Scrabble Word in Merriam-Webster MW Dictionary
lollipop: valid Scrabble Word in International Collins CSW Dictionary
Words With Friends Score: 17
lollipop: valid Words With Friends Word