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porringer

[pawr-in-jer, por-]
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noun
  1. a low dish or cup, often with a handle, from which soup, porridge, or the like is eaten.
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Origin of porringer

1515–25; variant of earlier poddinger, akin to late Middle English potinger, nasalized variant of potager < Middle French. See pottage, -er2
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words

dishpotbasinurnplatecontainercupbowlplattertraycrockcasserolevesselboattureenporringersaucerpotteryceramicpitcher

Examples from the Web for porringer

Historical Examples

  • Two dogs are running: one after game, and another to a porringer.

    Notes and Queries, Number 191, June 25, 1853

    Various

  • It is derived from the Welsh posned, a porringer or little dish.

  • There was a sort of porringer of farina, and some cakes of the same substance.

    The Three Midshipmen

    W.H.G. Kingston

  • I have the old Vanderdecken porringer, if it is the one with the cow on the cover.

    Margaret Montfort

    Laura E. Richards

  • I value this porringer more than almost any of my possessions.

    Margaret Montfort

    Laura E. Richards

British Dictionary definitions for porringer

porringer

noun
  1. a small dish, often with a handle, for soup, porridge, etc
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Word Origin

C16: changed from Middle English potinger, poteger, from Old French potager, from potage soup, contents of a pot; see pottage
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 porringer

n.

late 15c., alteration of potynger, potager "small dish for stew," from Middle English potage (see pottage) by the same course of changes that produced porridge; and with intrusive -n- by 1530s (cf. passenger).

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper