Meanings
plural Empire biscuits
- A kind of sweet biscuit, typically two pieces of shortbread with a layer of jam between them and icing and a glacé cherry on top, popular in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and some Commonwealth countries.
Synonyms: Belgian biscuit, biscuit bun, double biscuit, double shortbread, Empire cookie, German biscuit, Imperial biscuit, Imperial cookie
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA kind of sweet biscuit, typically two pieces of shortbread with a layer of jam between them and icing and a glacé cherry on top, popular in Scotland, Northern Ireland, and some Commonwealth countries.
Origin
Originally known as the Linzer biscuit and later the Deutsch biscuit, it was rechristened the Empire biscuit in England with the outbreak of the First World War, after the British Empire.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Empire biscuit. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Empire%20biscuit
“Empire biscuit.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Empire%20biscuit. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Empire biscuit,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Empire%20biscuit.
Source: Empire biscuit on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.