coddle
[kod-l]
- to treat tenderly; nurse or tend indulgently; pamper: to coddle children when they're sick.
- to cook (eggs, fruit, etc.) in water that is just below the boiling point; cook gently.
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Origin of coddle
Synonyms
See more synonyms for coddle on Thesaurus.com1. indulge, baby, humor, spoil.
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for coddle
Contemporary Examples
Higher education should challenge students, not coddle them by indulging their pre-formed biases and preferences.
They think they will irreparably damage them, so instead of raising expectations, they coddle them.
And regulators who coddle Wall Street have to worry more about becoming props in an Elizabeth Warren YouTube video gone viral.
Rising Left in the Democratic Party Killed Larry Summers' Fed Chair ChancesPeter Beinart
September 16, 2013
Historical Examples
You may take apricots not fully ripe, and coddle them, and that will do also.
The Lady's Own Cookery Book, and New Dinner-Table Directory;Charlotte Campbell Bury
Coddle six pippins in vine leaves covered with water, very gently, that the inside may be done without breaking the skins.
As it is, it's just me he needs to look after him and coddle him.
Lucy Maud Montgomery Short Stories, 1905 to 1906Lucy Maud Montgomery
They have stopped trying to coddle me now and I live rough, like the rest.
Margarita's SoulIngraham Lovell
He knows those who love him, who care for him with disinterestedness, who coddle him.
A Chambermaid's DiaryOctave Mirbeau
coddle
- to treat with indulgence
- to cook (something, esp eggs) in water just below the boiling point
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- Irish dialect stew made from ham and bacon scraps
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Word Origin
C16: of obscure origin; perhaps related to caudle
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for coddle
v.
c.1600, "boil gently," probably from caudle "warm drink for invalids" (c.1300), from Anglo-French caudel (c.1300), ultimately from Latin calidium "warm drink, warm wine and water," neuter of calidus "hot," from calere "be warm" (see calorie). Verb meaning "treat tenderly" first recorded 1815 (in Jane Austen's "Emma"). Related: Coddled; coddling.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper