Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- transitive verb To cook in water just below the boiling point.
- transitive verb To treat indulgently; baby. synonym: pamper.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun An over-indulged, pampered being; a person or animal made weak or effeminate by tender treatment.
- In tobacco manufacturing, to injure by fermentation.
- To make effeminate by pampering; make much of; treat tenderly as an invalid; humor; pamper.
- To boil gently; seethe; stew, as fruit.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- transitive verb To parboil, or soften by boiling.
- transitive verb To treat with excessive tenderness; to pamper.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- verb transitive To
treat gently or with greatcare . - verb transitive To
cook slowly inhot water that isbelow theboiling point . - noun An
Irish dish comprisinglayers of roughly slicedpork sausages andbacon rashers with slicedpotatoes andonions .
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- verb treat with excessive indulgence
- verb cook in nearly boiling water
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word coddle.
Examples
-
Elsewhere, Hastert said the Democratic plan would "coddle" -- oh, how they love to accuse others of coddling -- "the same terrorists who plan to harm innocent Americans and their freedom worldwide."
-
Wanting to see the law respected is not the same as wanting to "coddle" our enemies.
-
One Afghan politician believes that, while Gen. David Petraeus will almost certainly pursue a counterinsurgency strategy similar to his predecessor's, he will be less inclined to "coddle" Karzai on corruption than McChrystal was.
-
One Afghan politician believes that, while Gen. David Petraeus will almost certainly pursue a counterinsurgency strategy similar to his predecessor's, he will be less inclined to "coddle" Karzai on corruption than McChrystal was.
-
Clinton wasn't going to "coddle" Beijing dictators, remember?
-
The CEO of Google, Eric Schmidt, has said that he now has to "coddle" his employees, and even the U.S. military has encouraged its drillmasters to do less shouting because, according to Under Secretary of Defense David Chu, today's generation of recruits respond better to instructors who play "a more counseling-type role."
-
As Republicans tell it, anyone who votes against legalizing Bush's surveillance and detainee treatment programs is voting to '' coddle '' terrorists.
OpEdNews - Quicklink: House Set to Vote on Eavesdropping Bill 2006
-
Look Sarah, I am sorry if you think it is the right thing to do to "coddle" a person under ...
-
Look Sarah, I am sorry if you think it is the right thing to do to "coddle" a person under ...
-
Look Sarah, I am sorry if you think it is the right thing to do to "coddle" a person under the age of 18 by treating them with "kids gloves" in your response to them on here.
bilby commented on the word coddle
Etymonline notes that the root is:
kelə-, Proto-Indo-European root meaning "warm." It forms all or part of: caldera; calid; Calor; caloric; calorie; calorimeter; cauldron; caudle; chafe; chauffeur; chowder; coddle; lee; lukewarm; nonchalant; scald (v.) "afflict painfully with hot liquid or steam."
It is the hypothetical source of/evidence for its existence is provided by: Sanskrit carad- "harvest," literally "hot time;" Latin calor "heat," calidus "warm," calere "be hot;" Lithuanian šilti "become warm," šilus "August;" Old Norse hlær, Old English hleow "warm."
February 25, 2024