Definition of "caudle"

caudle

/ˈkɔːdəl/

noun
plural caudles
1. A drink given to the sick, consisting of ale or wine, bread, and eggs.
  Quotations
  Could a Taff'ta ſcarf, a long Eſtridge vvhing, / A ſtiffe Iron Doublet, and a Brazeel Pole / Tempt thee from Cambrick ſheets, fine active Thighs, / From Caudles vvhere the precious Amber ſvvims?
  1634 (first performance), William D’avenant [i.e., William Davenant], The Wits: A Comedie; […], published 1636; republished in Two Excellent Plays: […], London: […] G. Bedel, and T[homas] Collins, […], 1665, Act I, page 1
  A venerable lady, known as Great-Aunt Grantley, who had money to bequeath to the Heir, and whom Adrian called The Eighteenth Century, occupied with Hippias the back ground of the house, and shared her caudles with him.
  1859, George Meredith, chapter IV, in The Ordeal of Richard Feverel. A History of Father and Son. […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), London: Chapman and Hall
verb
third-person singular simple present caudles, present participle caudling, simple past and past participle caudled
1. (transitive) To make into caudle.
2. (transitive) To serve as a caudle to; to refresh.
  Quotations
  Will the cold brook, / Candied with ice, caudle thy morning taste, / To cure thy o'ernight's surfeit?
  c. 1605–1606, William Shakespeare, Timon of Athens, act 4, scene 3, lines 226–228