madeleine

¹

[mad-l-in, mad-l-eyn, mad^uh-len]

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.

Madeleine

²

Also Made·laine,

[mad-l-in, -lahyn, mad^uh-len]

noun

1. a female given name, form of Magdalene.

madeleine

/ -ˌleɪn, ˈmædəlɪn /

noun

1. a small fancy sponge cake

Word History and Origins

Origin of madeleine¹

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

Word History and Origins

Origin of madeleine¹

C19: perhaps after Madeleine Paulmier, French pastry cook

Example Sentences

The prime suspect in the disappearance of British toddler Madeleine McCann, who was released from prison in September, could be allowed to leave Germany following a court decision, a court spokesperson told Sunday.

Read more on Barron's

The contact with Madeleine's sister ended at the start of January 2024, when Wandelt again began targeting Madeleine's mother.

Read more on BBC

But before returning to Poland, Wandelt visited Charing Cross police station in London and told officers she was Madeleine.

Read more on BBC

Results of the DNA test - taken by Wandelt after she was arrested at Bristol Airport in February - "conclusively proved" she is not Madeleine.

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DNA tests have proved she is not Madeleine, the three-year-old who disappeared while on a family holiday in Praia da Luz, Portugal, in 2007.

Read more on BBC