pottage
nounUS /ˈpɑtɪd͡ʒ/ · UK /ˈpɒtɪd͡ʒ/
Etymology From Middle English pottage, from Anglo-Norman and Old French potage, equivalent to pot + -age.
1
Archaic, Historical A thick soup or stew, made by boiling vegetables, grains, and sometimes meat or fish, a staple food throughout Europe in the Middle Ages.
- And they have not in many places, neither pease ne beans ne none other pottages but the broth of the flesh.1357, John Mandeville, The Travels of Sir John Mandeville, modernized spelling edition:
- He is a portly man, though he lives on pottage and mashes.2009, Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall, Fourth Estate, published 2010, page 328:
2
Archaic An oatmeal porridge.
3
Nigeria A dish made by stewing plantain, beans, or yam in a tomato- and pepper-based sauce.
- Derived terms
- mess of pottage, pease pottage, plum pottage, pottinger, sell one's birthright for a mess of pottage
- Related terms
- potage