Meanings
caudle1
plural caudles
- A drink given to the sick, consisting of ale or wine, bread, and eggs.
Could a Taff'ta ſcarf, a long Eſtridge vvhing, / A ſtiffe Iron Doublet, and a Brazeel Pole / Tempt thee from Cambrick ſheets, fine active Thighs, / From Caudles vvhere the precious Amber ſvvims?
1634 (first performance), William D’avenant [i.e., William Davenant], The Wits: A Comedie; […], published 1636; republished in Two Excellent Plays: […], London: […] G. Bedel, and T[homas] Collins, […], 1665, →OCLC, Act I, page 11 more example
A venerable lady, known as Great-Aunt Grantley, who had money to bequeath to the Heir, and whom Adrian called The Eighteenth Century, occupied with Hippias the back ground of the house, and shared her caudles with him.
1859, George Meredith, chapter IV, in The Ordeal of Richard Feverel. A History of Father and Son. […], volume (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall, →OCLCSynonyms: posset
present singular third person caudles · participle present caudling · participle past caudled · past caudled
- transitiveTo make into caudle.
- transitiveTo serve as a caudle to; to refresh.
Will the cold brook, / Candied with ice, caudle thy morning taste, / To cure thy o'ernight's surfeit?
c. 1605–1606, William Shakespeare, Timon of Athens, act 4, scene 3, lines 226–228
Caudle2
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA drink given to the sick, consisting of ale or wine, bread, and eggs.
Origin
- Latincaldus
- Medieval Latincaldellum
- Old Northern Frenchcaudel
- Middle Englishcaudel
- Englishcaudle
Inherited from Middle English caudel, from Old Northern French caudel, from Medieval Latin caldellum, diminutive of Latin caldus, calidus (“warm”).
More words from Middle English, Old Northern French, Medieval Latin
Full word history & related roots →Rhymes & wordplay
Rhymes with caudle
All rhymes →Sounds the same
Anagrams
Cite this entry
caudle. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/caudle
“caudle.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/caudle. Accessed November 3, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “caudle,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/caudle.
Source: caudle on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.