Brewer's: Caudle

is any sloppy mess, especially that sweet mixture given by nurses to gossips who call to see the baby during the first month. The word simply means something warm. (Latin, calidus; French, chaudeau, Italian, caldo.)

Caudle

(Mrs.). A curtain lecturer. The term is derived from a series of papers by Douglas Jerrold, which were published in Punch. These papers represent Job Caudle as a patient sufferer of the curtain lectures of his nagging wife.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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