caudle

C3A1U1D2L1E1
/ˈkɔːdəl/

noun

A drink given to the sick, consisting of ale or wine, bread, and eggs.

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UncommonScrabble 9

Meanings

caudle1

nouncaudle (plural caudles)

plural caudles

  1. 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 1
    1 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, →OCLC

    Synonyms: posset

verbcaudle (third-person singular simple present caudles, present participle caudling, simple past and past participle caudled)

present singular third person caudles · participle present caudling · participle past caudled · past caudled

  1. transitiveTo make into caudle.
  2. 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

proper nounCaudle (plural Caudles)

plural Caudles

Synonyms & antonyms

nounA drink given to the sick, consisting of ale or wine, bread, and eggs.

Similar

Origin

  1. Latincaldus
  2. Medieval Latincaldellum
  3. Old Northern Frenchcaudel
  4. Middle Englishcaudel
  5. Englishcaudle

Inherited from Middle English caudel, from Old Northern French caudel, from Medieval Latin caldellum, diminutive of Latin caldus, calidus (“warm”).

Full word history & related roots →

Rhymes & wordplay

Rhymes with caudle

All rhymes →

Sounds the same

caudalcoddle (cot–caught merger)caudalcoddle (cot–caught merger)

Anagrams

Cite this entry
APA

caudle. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 3, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/caudle

MLA

“caudle.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/caudle. Accessed November 3, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “caudle,” accessed November 3, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/caudle.

Source: caudle on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.