pat-a-cake

[ pat-uh-keyk ]

noun

1. a children's game in which a child claps hands alone and with another child while chanting a nursery rhyme.

Word History and Origins

Origin of pat-a-cake¹

First recorded in 1870–75; after the opening words of a rhyme that accompanies such play

Example Sentences

Clapping and jump rope games are also widespread in the U.S. and around the world, and range from simple clapping patterns found in “Pat-a-cake, pat-a-cake baker’s man,” on to the complex and multi-versed rhymes such as “Miss Mary Mack” or “Miss Mary Had a Steamboat.”

From Literature

They played cards and pat-a-cake clapping games, in effect living the childhood denied them.

From Los Angeles Times

Reading them is somehow inherently delightful, like reciting the names of flowers: Pat-a-cake, Poison, Mary Mack, Cut-a-Lump, Kerplunk, Ghost-in-the-Graveyard, Dandy Shandy and so on.

From Washington Post

Then he leans forward and, still seated, dribbles Harlem Globetrotter-style, tiny pat-a-cake dribbles, then rat-a-tat big ones between his legs, and then a crazy weave, the whole time grooving to the music.

From New York Times

The children of the Firs Mobile Home Park chase each other down the neighborhood street after school and clap to centuries-old nursery rhymes like pat-a-cake.

From Seattle Times