[Sca-cooks] Coddle

[Johnna Holloway]

More from OED

coddle, v.  1. trans. To boil gently, parboil, stew (esp. fruit: in  
quot. 1611, it is, of course, suggested by ‘Pippin’).

1598 B. JONSON Ev. Man in Hum. I. ii, Taking in all the yong wenches  
that passe by..and codd'ling euery kernell of fruit for 'hem. a1611  
BEAUM. & FL. Philaster V. iv, Dear Prince Pippin, Down with your noble  
blood: or as I live I'll have you coddled. a1655 SIR T. T. DE MAYERNE  
Receipts in Cookery No. 150. 101 Take your Pippins green, and quoddle  
them in faire water.

2. In some mod. dialects: To roast (apples, peas, etc.) in the oven:  
see quots.

1876 C. C. ROBINSON Mid. Yorksh. Gloss. (E.D.S.), Coddle, to roast  
fruit, etc., as apples, and shelled beans. When the latter crack, they  
are coddled.

{Codded means to bear pods. Think peascods.}
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coddle, n. SECOND EDITION 1989      One who coddles himself or is  
coddled. (Hence mollycoddle.)
1830 MISS MITFORD Village Ser. IV. (1863) 181 His grandmother herself  
could not be a greater coddle in her own venerable person. 1848 B. D.  
WALSH Aristoph., Clouds III. iii, The town Will pronounce you a mammy- 
sick coddle. 1870 G. W. DASENT Annals of Life I. 131 Aunt Mandeville  
was no coddle.

coddle, v.2            trans. To treat as an invalid in need of  
nourishing food and nursing; to nurse overmuch, cocker. Often with up;  
cf. nurse up, cocker up. (It differs from pamper, in that it is those  
who are supposed to be weakly that are coddled.)

1815 JANE AUSTEN Emma I. xii. 88 Be satisfied with doctoring and  
coddling yourself. 1816 SCOTT Antiq. ix, Let womankind alone for  
coddling each other.

Hence coddled ppl. a., coddling vbl. n.

1824 MISS MITFORD Village Ser. I. (1863) 13 Nothing worse for children  
than coddling.

coddler rare 1866 MRS. H. WOOD St. Martin's Eve vi. (1874) 53 Neither  
a coddler nor a hypochondriac.
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Etymology < MOLLY n.1 + CODDLE n. Compare earlier MOLL-CODDLE adj.,  
MOLLYCOT n.
   With forms molly-caudle, mally-caudle compare CAUDLE n., and see  
discussion s.v. CODDLE v.2

coddle  XIX. prob. a var. of caudle (XVII) administer a CAUDLE to: but  
perh. a fig. use of coddle (XVI) parboil, stew. Cf. MOLLYCODDLE. The  
Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology.

Caudle 1. trans. To administer a caudle to.
1607 SHAKES. Timon IV. iii. 226 Will the cold brooke Candied with Ice,  
cawdle thy Morning taste.

Caudle as a noun
1. A warm drink consisting of thin gruel, mixed with wine or ale,  
sweetened and spiced, given chiefly to sick people, esp. women in  
childbed; also to their visitors.

1297 R. GLOUC. (1824) 561 As me sei, wan ich am ded, make me a caudel.  
1362 LANGL. P. Pl. A. v. 205 Glotoun was a gret cherl..and cowhede vp  
a cawdel in clementes lappe. c1400 Beryn 431 Sit and ete e cawdell..at  
was made With sugir and with swete wyne. ?1483 CAXTON Bk. for Trav.,  
Potages, caudell for the seke, chaudel.

Johnnae