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a leavened, doughnut-shaped, firm-textured roll, with a brownish glazed surface, made of dough first poached and then baked.
Contemporary Examples

Teachout took a question on redistricting and another on her favorite kind of bagel.
Can New York Democrat Zephyr Teachout Stop Governor Andrew Cuomo? David Freedlander August 17, 2014

I love to break the fast with herring and with the very American bagel, lox, and cream cheese.
Secrets of the Ultimate Jewish Mother Sarah Whitman-Salkin September 14, 2009

She’s sitting quietly, Q-Tip hair and all, having a bagel with cream cheese and Earl Grey tea.
Backstage at Vera Wang Isabel Wilkinson September 13, 2010

He puts a bagel in the conveyer toaster, but it never comes out the other end.
‘The Leftovers’ Review: A Fever Dream You Can’t Wake Up From Andrew Romano June 28, 2014

Is that mass of cream cheese you put on a bagel a schemer or a shmeer?
Mazel Tov, Arvind! But Are You Sure It’s Not Kneydl? Daniel Gross May 30, 2013

Because it was midday, I had gotten a bagel with cream cheese that I planned to eat after.
My Own Horace Mann Story and The New York Times Abuse Report Kate Aurthur June 6, 2012

As the seatbelt clicked, Mr. Klein said, “I wish I were where that bagel is.”
My Own Horace Mann Story and The New York Times Abuse Report Kate Aurthur June 6, 2012

There was one bagel, which a woman snapped up for her 10-year-old son.
Hamptons Residents Reel as Superstorm Sandy Recedes Emily J. Weitz October 30, 2012

For better or worse, jazz is turning into the music you hear when you drink coffee and munch on a donut or bagel.
Jazz (The Music of Coffee and Donuts) Has Respect, But It Needs Love Ted Gioia June 14, 2014

Historical Examples

But donner and bagel, what need you be so curious about the life of this boy, who is neither your bloot nor kin?
Quentin Durward Sir Walter Scott

noun
a hard ring-shaped bread roll, characteristic of Jewish baking
n.

1919, from Yiddish beygl, from Middle High German boug- “ring, bracelet,” from Old High German boug “a ring,” related to Old English beag “ring” (in poetry, an Anglo-Saxon lord was beaggifa “ring-giver”), from Proto-Germanic *baugaz-, from PIE root *bheug- (3) “to bend,” with derivatives referring to bent, pliable, or curved objects (cf. Old High German biogan “to bend;” see bow (v.)).

noun

A tennis set won 6–0 •The term, said to have been coined by Eddie Gibbs, has spread to other sports, where it often means ”zero, zip”

[1980s+; fr the shape of a bagel, fr Yiddish beygl, of uncertain origin but attested fr the early 1600s]