cauldron
Language: English
Part of speech: noun
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈkɔːl.dɹən/
ipa: /ˈkəʊl.dɹən/
Forms: form: cauldrons
form: caldron
form: caudron
form: cawdron
form: caadron
Etymology: From Middle English caudroun, borrowed from Old Northern French caudron, ultimately from Late Latin caldāria (“cooking-pot”), from Latin caldus (“hot”). Spelling later Latinized by having an l inserted. See chowder, caldera.
The military sense is a semantic loan from German Kessel; compare English kettling.
Senses: examples: text: Double, double, toile and trouble; / Fire burne, and Cauldron bubble.
ref: c. 1606 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Macbeth”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i], page 143, column 2:
text: […] I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses … […]
ref: 1997, J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Raincoast Books, →ISBN, page 102:
text: Large cauldrons are a little tricky to locate, but are well worth the search if you have a place to safely store and use one.
ref: 2004, Carl Neal, The Magick Toolbox: The Ultimate Compendium for Choosing and Using Ritual Implements and Magickal Tools, Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC, →ISBN:
hypernyms: pot
;
vessel
coordinate_terms: kettle
;
roasting pan
roaster
stewer
Dutch oven
glosses: A large bowl-shaped pot used for boiling over an open flame.
examples: text: After having defended the constantly shrinking perimeter of their position for over two weeks, the encircled German units in the Cherkassy “cauldron” were ordered to break out.
ref: 1966, George H. Stein, The Waffen SS: Hitler’s Elite Guard at War, 1939–1945, →ISBN, page 217:
text: The cauldron had been formed, and some 2,000 Soviets had been encircled in it; the division estimated this quite a success.
ref: 2012, Hans Wijers, Winter Storm: The Battle for Stalingrad and the Operation to Rescue 6th Army, →ISBN, page 153:
text: This could have been avoided had the Ukrainian Army either evacuated the troops in the southern cauldron once it became clear that their position was untenable or reinforced them substantially in order to reopen supply lines.
ref: 2016, Paul Robinson, “Explaining the Ukrainian Army’s defeat in Donbass in 2014”, in J. L. Black, Michael Johns, editors, The Return of the Cold War: Ukraine, the West and Russia, →ISBN, page 120:
topics: government
military
politics
war
coordinate_terms: kettle
glosses: A strategic encirclement.
examples: text: a cauldron of discontent
text: With Old Trafford a cauldron of noise, Kobbie Mainoo somehow kept his cool to curl an equaliser into the corner of the Lyon goal as the tie entered its final minute.
ref: 2025 April 17, Simon Stone, “Manchester United 5-4 Olympique Lyonnais”, in BBC Sport:
glosses: An unsettled difficult situation or place.
Derived terms: cauldron arse
cauldron battle
cauldron bottom
cauldronful
cauldronlike
witches' cauldron
Related terms: calorie
chowder
caldera
scald
coddle