pudding

[pood-ing]

noun

1. a thick, soft dessert, typically containing flour or some other thickener, milk, eggs, a flavoring, and sweetener.

   tapioca pudding.

2. a similar dish unsweetened and served with or as a main dish.

   corn pudding.

3. British.,  the dessert course of a meal.

4. Nautical.,  a pad or fender for preventing scraping or chafing or for lessening shock between vessels or other objects.

pudding

/ ˈpʊdɪŋ /

noun

1. a sweetened usually cooked dessert made in many forms and of various ingredients, such as flour, milk, and eggs, with fruit, etc

2. a savoury dish, usually soft and consisting partially of pastry or batter

   steak-and-kidney pudding

3. the dessert course in a meal

4. a sausage-like mass of seasoned minced meat, oatmeal, etc, stuffed into a prepared skin or bag and boiled

Other Word Forms

• puddingy adjective
• puddinglike adjective

Word History and Origins

Origin of pudding¹

1275–1325; Middle English poding kind of sausage; compare Old English puduc wen, sore (perhaps originally swelling), Low German puddewurst black pudding

Word History and Origins

Origin of pudding¹

C13 poding; compare Old English puduc a wart, Low German puddek sausage

Idioms and Phrases

see proof of the pudding.

Example Sentences

Stack ladyfingers with whole-berry cranberry sauce, vanilla pudding, and whipped cream flecked with a decidedly ungodly amount of orange zest.

Read more on Salon

The proof of the pudding will be in the eating.

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“My own favorite,” Buddy tells us, “was a cold banana pudding—a guarded recipe of the ancient aunt” who took her secret to the grave.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Waiters served Yorkshire pudding and beef pie with Stilton cheese.

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For something completely different, I decided to try her New York Dutch Baby, which is a kind of giant, puffy pancake akin to Yorkshire pudding.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal