simnel Meaning, Definition & Usage

  1. noun a crisp bread of fine white flour
  2. noun a fruitcake (sometimes covered with almond paste) eaten at mid-Lent or Easter or Christmas

WordNet

Sim"nel noun
Etymology
OF. simenel cake or bread of wheat flour, LL. simenellus wheat bread, fr. L. simila the finest wheat flour. Cf. Semolina.
Definitions
  1. A kind of cake made of fine flour; a cracknel. Obs.
    Not common bread, but vastel bread, or simnels. Fuller.
  2. A kind of rich plum cake, eaten especially on Mid-Lent Sunday. Eng. Herrick.

Webster 1913