American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A shallow cup or bowl with a handle.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. Originally, a porridge-dish; hence, a small vessel deeper than a plate or saucer, usually having upright sides, a nearly flat bottom, and one or two ears.
- n. A head-dress shaped like a porringer: so called in jest.
- n. A small cup or bowl usually with a handle.
- n. A small, pewter dish that colonial Americans ate their porridge from.
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. A porridge dish; esp., a bowl or cup from which children eat or are fed.
- n. a shallow metal bowl (usually with a handle)
- Middle English, alteration of potinger, potager, from Old French potager, from potage, soup; see pottage. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
“It should be stated that the word porringer, as used by English collectors, usually refers to a deep cup with a cover and two handles, while what we call porringers are known to these collectors as bleeding-basins or tasters.”
“The porringer was a very important article of table use, for pap, and soft foods such as we should term cereals, and for boiled pudding.”
“He loved his little porringer, which is to say that he ate a good deal; and he loved to read books, which is not to say that he loved study; he hated getting out of bed, and he was constantly gated for morning chapel.”
“Abu Kir and found he had eaten all that was in the porringer and thrown it aside, empty. —”
“Accordingly he bade him set the porringer amiddlemost the table and ate of it his sufficiency, whilst the Fellah filled his belly with those rich meats.”
“And while he sat in this state behold, up came the husband man, with a great porringer of lentils67 and a nose-bag full of barley and seeing the pavilion pitched and the Mamelukes standing, hands upon breasts, thought that the Sultan was come and had halted on that stead.”
“Thereupon the peasant took the porringer full of gold and returned to the village, driving the bulls before him and deeming himself akin to the King.”
“Wail for the little partridges on porringer and plate, i.”
“Abu Sir returned to Abu Kir he saw that he had eaten all that was in the porringer and had thrown it aside empty.”
“Then he set apart a porringer of Kabábs and putting therein some of each dish, till there was enough for ten, gave it to Abu Sir, saying,”
These user-created lists contain the word ‘porringer’.
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
A list of pewter items and wares gleaned from the literature, or found listed for sale in antique catalogs - from spoons to stills and chamber pots to church cups. A synonym for the larger, heavier...
... as in "by James Joyce"
Interesting words and usages from Smollett's 1749 translation of Lesage's L'Histoire de Gil Blas de Santillane
my favorite voiceless bilabial plosive.
Words I've come across while reading and looked up in the dictionary.
Favourite words, usages and passages from Nashe's "The Unfortunate Traveller: or, the Life of Iacke Wilton" (1594)
Looking for tweets for porringer.