hamburger helper
Word Rarity
Rare
Frequency: Zipf frequency 3.13 in modern English
28
Scrabble Score
15
Letters
3
Syllables
10
Unique Chars
Meaning
name
A boxed, one-pot meal product consisting of dried pasta, rice, or potatoes and a packet of powdered seasonings; to prepare it, home cooks combine the dry ingredients with browned ground beef ("hamburger") and water or milk.
American usage
Example Sentences
- "“I ordered lumber for a new one,” Hopper told her while she handed him a bowl of last night’s reheated hamburger helper."
- "It’s a good opportunity to try new dishes, and Bill is very appreciative of some real food in the apartment that isn’t a microwaveable meal or hamburger helper."
- "Barter is basically a marketing tool. It is the "hamburger helper" of business. It stretches cash while bringing in new customers [...]"
- "In many cases the diminished seventh chord is the in-between, the hamburger helper of ascending harmonic movement."
- "UNE is also very smartly made, polished, captivating, and cohesive, with no perceptible cinematic hamburger helper; there are no wasted words."
Etymology
hamburger + helper; a genericized trademark; introduced nationally by General Mills' Betty Crocker brand in 1971.
Usage
- American usage
- Uncountable
- Countable
Subject
Wiktionary places this term in Food.
Inflected Forms
hamburger helpers (plural)