madeleine

plural madeleines

1. A French type of small gateau or sponge cake, often shaped like an elongated scallop shell.

   Madeleine batter can be made in advance and refrigerated.

   2003, Emily Luchetti, A Passion for Desserts, Chronicle Books, page 20

   1 more example

   And suddenly the memory revealed itself. The taste was that of the little piece of madeleine which on Sunday mornings at Combray […] my aunt Léonie used to give me, dipping it first in her own cup of tea or tisane.

   1981, C. K. Scott Moncrieff, Terence Kilmartin, transl., Swann's Way (In Search of Lost Time), Folio Society, translation of original by Marcel Proust, published 2005, page 44

2. figurativelySomething which brings back a memory; a source of nostalgia or evocative memories.

   The Robe was thus fixed in my mind as a symbol, and in my memory as a madeleine, of Jewish evil.

   2001, James Carroll, Constantine's Sword, Houghton-Mifflin, page 223

   2 more examples

   Every five years or so, in the middle of another task, I'll look at them and a particular cover will bring memory flooding back like a madeleine.

   2005, Roger Ebert, Rogert Ebert's Movie Yearbook, page 784

   My madeleine moment happened early on Friday, while pot smoke drifted in the air as I waited for a shuttle to the polo fields where Coachella takes place.

   2022 April 27, Spencer Kornhaber, “Coachella Defeated My Cynicism About Music Festivals”, in The Atlantic

1. A female given name from French, variant of Madeline.

   "We've been making up the most glamorous names for you, Marguerite and Marlene and Madeleine―" "And Melanie and Marianne and Marietta," put in Jane.

   1967, Joan G. Robinson, When Marnie Was There, HarperCollins, published 2014, →ISBN, page 185