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
