Definition of "cruller" [crul•ler]

• Chiefly Northeastern, Central Atlantic, & Upper Northern U.S. A small, usually ring-shaped or twisted cake of sweet dough fried in deep fat. (noun)
• Chiefly New England & Pennsylvania An unraised doughnut, usually twisted but also shaped into rings or oblongs. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "We lighted dark halls; closed the "cruller" bakeries in tenement-house cellars that had caused the loss of no end of lives, for the crullers were boiled in fat in the early morning hours while the tenants slept, and when the fat was spilled in the fire their peril was awful."
• "Also, I should thank Orin for informing me about what a French cruller is."
• "On the other hand, imagine I ask for your reaction to the phrase “french cruller.”"