powsowdy, powsoddy Sc. and north. dial.
(paʊˈsaʊdɪ, paʊˈsɒdɪ)
Forms: 6 possodie, -edie, 7 pow's-sowdy, 7 powsodie, 8 -sowdie, 9 -soddie, -soddy, pousoudie, -sowdie, -sowdy, 8– pow(-)sowdy.
[Origin obscure: see Note.]
A name given now or formerly in Scotland and the northern counties of England to various culinary preparations, not obviously related to each other; among these (in Scotland) sheep's head broth (? obs.); (in Cumbld. and Westmld.) an ale posset; (in north of Eng.) Yorkshire pudding (? obs.); a hotch-potch or heterogeneous mixture. † Also Sc. used as a term of endearment (obs., the earliest instance of the word). Also attrib.
| 1500–20 Dunbar Poems lxxv. 30 Quod he, ‘My claver, and my curldodie, My hwny soppis, my sweit possodie’. a 1685 F. Sempill Blythsum Wedding vii, There will be..Powsodie, and drammock, and crowdie. 1787 W. Taylor Scots Poems 24 In haf an hour hese get his mess O' crowdy-mowdy, An' fresh powsowdy. 1816 Scott Antiq. xxxv, He's hovering there making some pousowdie [note miscellaneous mess] for my lord, for he doesna eat like ither folk neither. 1817 Lintoun Green ix. 92 Pow's-sowdy, king's-hoods, mony-plies, Sheep's trotters, hot and hot. 1825 Brockett N.C. Gloss., Powsoddy, suet pudding placed under a roast. 1825 Hone Every-day Bk. I. 53 They sit down to lobscouse, and pousoudie [mispr. ponsondie];..in pousoudie we recognise the wassail..of ale, boiled with sugar and nutmeg. 1857 J. Sullivan Cumberld. & Westmorld. 169 The ale-posset continues to appear at the village tavern on what is called the Powsowdy night. 1858 De Quincey Autobiog. Sk. II. 109 The anticipation of excellent ale,..and possibly of still more excellent pow-sowdy (a combination of ale, spirits, and spices). 1894 Northumbld. Gloss., Pousowdy, hotchpotch, disorderment, a heterogeneous dish. |
[Note. Powsoddy has been conjected to be a comb. of pow, poll n.1 head + sodden, boiled; also, to be a corruption of posset: perh. two distinct words have been confounded, as the senses seem to have little in common.]