Meaning
A humorous, indirect way of saying that someone is pregnant. It is informal and conversational, typically said about rather than by the person expecting, and it nearly always appears in the patterns 'have a bun in the oven' or 'with a bun in the oven'. Informal and jocular; it can sound flippant when used about a stranger or in a sensitive setting. Regional use: General English.
Origin
The metaphor is simple: the womb is an oven and the baby a bun baking in it. Womb-as-oven comparisons are ancient - Grammarist points to versions in Greek myth and in Aristotle - but the English phrase itself is 20th-century slang. The Phrase Finder's earliest citation is Nicholas Monsarrat's 1951 novel The Cruel Sea, in which the line 'I bet you left a bun in the oven' has to be explained to another character, suggesting the expression was then still novel. It sits in a family of jokey pregnancy euphemisms such as 'in the pudding club' and 'up the duff'. A 19th-century first use is sometimes asserted, but no source has produced a citation.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- another bun in the oven
- got a bun in the oven
- have a bun in the oven
- with a bun in the oven
Usage Examples
- Priya announced at Sunday dinner that she had a bun in the oven, and the whole table erupted in cheers.
- Judging by the way she is refusing coffee and skipping the soft cheese, I would say there is a bun in the oven.
- The couple posted a photo of tiny booties on an open oven door, hinting at a bun in the oven.