sandwich

Less common meanings

4. 4
   smaller servingadjectiveUS

   Of a meal or serving, more modest in size than a full dinner.

   UsageBefore a noun, as in a sandwich portion, the lighter choice beside a dinner portion.

   Similarlight

   Note

   It is easy to mistake for a meal of the bread-based dish, but here the word measures the serving rather than naming what is on the plate.

5. 5
   layer cakenounUKcountable

   A cake built from two or more sponge layers with a filling such as jam or cream between them.

   She filled the sponge sandwich with raspberry jam and whipped cream.

   A proper Victoria sandwich needs a dusting of caster sugar on top.

   UsageUsually with a word in front: a Victoria sandwich, a sponge sandwich; elsewhere, name the cake to avoid confusion.

   Similarsponge

   Note

   British baking calls a filled layer cake a sandwich, and the word usually comes with a qualifier: a Victoria sandwich, a sponge sandwich. Alysa Levene's Cake: A Slice of History (2016) mentions a Warwickshire agricultural fair with a Victoria sandwich category for male bakers. Source

   Checked 2 Nov 2026 · 2 facts

   • Alysa Levene wrote Cake: A Slice of History, published in 2016. headline.co.uk
   • Levene's book mentions a Warwickshire agricultural fair with a Victoria sandwich category for male bakers. en.wiktionary.org
6. 6
   verbrareintransitive

   To make a meal of sandwiches rather than of cooked food.

   He coffeed and sandwiched along the highway.

   1965, Thea Astley, The Slow Natives

   The Red Knight and his squire might be sandwiching at the very next table.

   2006, Gary Zingher, “The Child as Everyday Explorer”

   Note

   The eater's side of the feeding verb: here the subject does the eating, and there is no object. It keeps the same companion. Thea Astley's The Slow Natives (1965) has a man who "coffeed and sandwiched along the highway." It also appears in the progressive, as with a knight sandwiching at the next table. It is rare enough to sound like a joke, so use it lightly. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

   • Thea Astley wrote The Slow Natives, first published in 1965. journals.jcu.edu.au
   • The original publication was in 1965; later editions have different dates. journals.jcu.edu.au
   • The novel describes a male character with the quoted words. en.wiktionary.org
   • An attested progressive example describes a knight sandwiching at the next table. en.wiktionary.org
7. 7
   sex actverbslangtransitive

   To penetrate someone sexually at the same time as another person does.

   In the scene, the two performers sandwiched their co-star simultaneously.

   In the adult film's last scene, two actors sandwich the lead actress during sex.

   Note

   A sexual sense built on the same picture as the physical sense: one person between two others. Ordinary uses, such as being sandwiched between two people in a crowd, look identical on the page, so the sexual reading depends entirely on context. It belongs to explicit writing. In neutral prose, "squeezed between" avoids the misreading. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

   • The sexual sense uses the image of one person positioned between two others. en.wikipedia.org
8. 8
   nounarchaic

   A man who walks the streets carrying advertising boards hung in front of and behind him.

   We have, and not so very long ago, seen women employed as 'sandwiches'.

   Pall Mall Gazette, quoted in 2004, Chris Jenks

   Note

   Here the person is the filling, walking between two advertising boards. The fuller name is sandwichman, and the boards are a sandwich board. The Pall Mall Gazette uses it of women employed as "sandwiches", so the job was not only a man's. The short form is archaic. In modern writing, sandwichman or sandwich-board wearer is the clear choice. Source

   Checked 1 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

   • The wearer stands between the two advertising boards, producing the sandwich image. en.wiktionary.org
   • Sandwichman names the person wearing the advertising boards. en.wiktionary.org
   • The two advertising boards together constitute a sandwich board. en.wikipedia.org
   • The Pall Mall Gazette referred to women employed as sandwiches, establishing that women also did this work. en.wiktionary.org
9. 9
   verbcolloquial

   To provide a person or group with sandwiches to eat.

   I clothed desperate families, and sandwiched and teaed many distracted souls.

   1953, [Irene Curzon, 2nd] Baroness Ravensdale, In Many Rhythms: An Autobiography