madeleine

¹ American  

[mad-l-in, mad-l-eyn, mad^uh-len] / ˈmæd l ɪn, ˌmæd lˈeɪn, madəˈlɛn /

noun

French Cooking.

plural

madeleines

1. a small shell-shaped cake made of flour, eggs, sugar, and butter and baked in a mold.

2. something that triggers memories or nostalgia: in allusion to a nostalgic passage in Proust's Remembrance of Things Past.

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Madeleine ² American  

[mad-l-in, -lahyn, mad^uh-len] / ˈmæd l ɪn, -ˌlaɪn, madəˈlɛn /

Also Madelaine,

noun

1. a female given name, form of Magdalene.

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madeleine British  

/ -ˌleɪn, ˈmædəlɪn /

noun

1. a small fancy sponge cake

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Etymology

Origin of madeleine

1835–45; < French, earlier gâteau à la Madeleine, after the female given name; the attribution of the recipe to an 18th-century cook named Madeleine Pau(l)mier is unsubstantiated

Example Sentences

She still managed to get her own agent and landed several stage roles after graduating, before taking on her first West End role as Madeleine in The Umbrellas of Cherbourg in 2011.

From BBC

Kinsella, whose real name was Madeleine Sophie Wickham, was diagnosed with an aggressive form of brain cancer in 2022 and died earlier this month at the age of 55.

From BBC

"These children have suffered psychological trauma and torture, and when they arrive here, most are aggressive," said Madeleine, a psychologist at the centre.

From Barron's

Suffering from speech disorders, he talks constantly and sometimes incoherently, disturbing other residents, Madeleine said.

From Barron's

"It was becoming increasingly obvious that this was a source of huge division within the Church of England," says Madeleine Davies, who writes for the Church Times.

From BBC