coddle
UK /ˈkɒd.əl/ · US /ˈkɑ.dəl/ verb, noun
Forms coddles coddling coddled
- verb (transitive) To treat gently or with great care.
- verb (transitive) To cook slowly in hot water that is below the boiling point. “a coddled egg”
- verb (transitive) To exercise excessive or damaging authority in an attempt to protect. To overprotect.
- noun An Irish dish comprising layers of roughly sliced pork sausages and bacon rashers with sliced potatoes and onions.
- noun (archaic) An effeminate person.
Synonyms
cosset simmer pamper posset spoil featherbed cocker baby mollycoddle indulge
Etymology
Probably from caudle. Compare British dialect caddle (“to coax, spoil, fondle”) and cade.
Webster’s 1913
Etymology [Cf. Prov. E. caddle to coax, spoil, fondle, and Cade, a. & v. t.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “coddle”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details