porringer en · NOUN
Etymology
From Middle English paroger, porrynger, a variant of potager, potynger (“small dish for stew”), apparently from potage + -er, with intrusive n before g as in messenger and passenger. Compare poddinger and later porridge.
Meanings
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A small cup or bowl, usually with a handle, commonly used for porridge.
There was a little clutch of boiled eggs as well, in their own special heater, and porridge, in a silver porringer.
1938, Daphne de Maurier, Rebecca:He here caused a good deal of annoyance, especially by tormenting the children in various ways. Sometimes their bread and butter would be snatched away, or their porringers of bread and milk be capsized by an invisible hand; for the Boggart never let himself be seen[.]
1850, Thomas Keightley, The Fairy Mythology, London: H.G. Bohn, page 307:
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(obsolete) A headdress shaped like such a dish.
Wife of small wit, neere him, that rail'd vpon me, till her pinck'd porrenger fell off her head
1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iv]:
Forms
| Spelling | Features | Labels | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| porringers | Number=Plur | lexicographic |