▪ I. maudlin, n.
(ˈmɔːdlɪn)
Forms: 4–5 maudeleyne, mawd(e)leyn, 4, 6 maudelen, 5 mawdelayn, -en, 6 maud(e)lene, -elein, -elyn, -lein(e, mawdel(e)in, -(e)leyn, 6–7 maudlen, mawdlin, 7 maudline, mawdlen, -line.
[a. OF. Madelaine, semi-popular ad. L. Magdalēna, Magdalene.]
† 1. As proper name: = Magdalen 1. Obs.
| c 1320 R. Brunne Medit. 445 To maudelens hous Ion went. c 1380 Wyclif Serm. Sel. Wks. I. 382 Marie Mawdeleyn. c 1460 Towneley Myst. xxviii. 67 Mawdleyn witnes beres that ihesus rose from ded. 1565 Jewel Repl. Harding (1611) 257 Mary Maudlen. 1573 Tusser Husb. (1878) 49 Gehezie, Lots wife,..Rough Esau, with Mawdlin. |
† b. transf. A penitent resembling Mary Magdalen. (
Cf. Magdalen 2.)
Obs.| 1602 [? Breton] Pass. Discont. Mind A 3 b, To play a poore lamenting Mawdlines part, That would weepe streams of bloud to be forgiuen. 1631 R. Brathwait Eng. Gentlew. (1641) 288 They fall into a poore Maudlins distemper by giving reines to passion, till it estrange them from the soveraignty of reason. |
† 2. = Magdalen 3.
Obs.| 1603 Owen Pembrokeshire (1892) 11 Diuerse priories, ffriers, Maudlens [printed Mandleus], Almehouses [etc.]. |
3. † a. = costmary,
Tanacetum Balsamita.
Obs. b. The herb
Achillea Ageratum. (Also
sweet maudlin.)
| c 1460 J. Russell Bk. Nurture 132 Gynger valadyne & maydelyn ar not so holsom in mete. 1548 Turner Names Herbes 37 Thys is not Eupatorium Mesues, for that is called in englishe Maudlene. 1578 Lyte Dodoens ii. lxxvi. 250 The second kinde [of Balsamynte] is called..in English Mawdelein. 1597 Gerarde Herball ii. cxcviii. 524 Maudlein is without doubt a kinde of Costmarie. 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. xv. 197 They hot Muscado oft with milder Maudlin cast. 1640 Parkinson Theat. Bot. 78 Ageratum purpureum, Purple sweete Maudeline. 1688 R. Holme Armoury ii. 98/2 Small Maudlin hath the stalk full of small slender leaves of whitish green. 1718 Quincy Compl. Disp. 130 Maudlin, is a kind of Agrimony, & flowers about July. 1866 Treas. Bot., Sweet maudlin, Achillea Ageratum. |
† 4. The name of a kind of peach (
= Magdalen 4); also of a kind of pear (
= Magdalen pear).
Obs.| 1664 Evelyn Kal. Hort. June 68 [Pears]. The Maudlin (first ripe)..&c. 1699 Ibid. Aug. (ed. 9) 100 Peaches and Abricots... Bourdeaux Peach,..Maudlen, Minion Peach. 1676 Worlidge Cyder 167 The Margaret, the Maudlin..and many other early Pears are in esteem for the Table in July. 1707 Mortimer Husb. (1721) II. 294 The Margaret, the Maudlin, and the Cluster Pear. |
5. [From the
adj.] What is maudlin; weak or mawkish sentiment.
| 1838 Lytton Alice vi. ii, I allow that there is a strange mixture of fustian and maudlin in all these things. 1865 Spectator 11 Feb. 153 Let us at least have them tried like all others, with as little maudlin and romance about..withered hearts..as may be consistent with sincerity. |
6. Comb.:
† maudlin daisy, the ox-eye daisy,
Chrysanthemum Leucanthemum;
Maudlin day,
= Magdalen day;
† maudlin pot, ? some kind of drinking vessel;
maudlin tansy = sweet maudlin (see 3 b);
maudlin tide, the time of the feast of
St. Mary Magdalen, 22 July;
maudlin-wort (?
obs.)
= maudlin daisy;
† also applied to the yellow ox-eye,
Chrysanthemum segetum.
| 1861 Miss Pratt Flower. Pl. III. 312 (Great White Ox-eye)..The plant was formerly called *Maudlin Daisy. |
| c 1470 Hardyng Chron. clxii. (1812) 297 The kyng vpon the *Maudeleyn day, At Fowkirke fought with Scottes in great aray. |
| 1638 Lanc. Wills (Chetham Soc.) III. 204 A dozen of silver spoones and a little *Maudlin pott of silver. |
| 1856 Mayne Expos. Lex., *Maudlin Tansy. |
| c 1530 Ld. Berners Arth. Lyt. Bryt. (1814) 7 Arthur..demaundyd of him yf he had receyued at y{supt} *mawdeleyn tyde y⊇ reuenewes of the forest. |
| 1552 Elyot Dict., Amaranthus, an herbe, of the which be two sortes: the flower of the one is yelow,..called also..of Apothecaries sticas citrina, in English, *Maudelene woort or Baltasar. 1578 Lyte Dodoens ii. xix. 169 The great wild Daysie, or Maudelynwurte..hath grene leaues. 1766 Museum Rust. VI. 451 Greater Daisie, Ox⁓eye, or Maudlin-wort. 1866 Treas. Bot., Maudlinwort, Chrysanthemum Leucanthemum. |
▪ II. maudlin, a. (
ˈmɔːdlɪn)
Forms: 6
maudlayne,
mawdlen, 7
maudline,
mawd(e)lin, 8–9
maudling, 7–
maudlin.
[From the attrib. use of maudlin n., in allusion to the pictures in which the Magdalen was represented weeping.] 1. Weeping, tearful, lachrymose.
Obs. or
arch.| 1607 Middleton Michaelm. Term ii. i. 137 That's a penitent maudlin dicer. a 1680 Butler Rem. (1759) II. 136 He laments, like Heraclitus the Maudlin Philosopher, at other Men's Mirth. 1715 Rowe Lady J. Grey v. i, No Maudlin Gazers, To wet their Handkerchiefs. 1847 Lytton Lucretia (1853) 152 Blooming amidst those maudlin eyes. |
2. Characterized by tearful sentimentality; mawkishly emotional; weakly sentimental.
| a 1631 Donne Lett. (1651) 145 It was matter, which I might very well have left unwritten, having too much of the Maudlin humour in it. a 1704 T. Brown Praise Poverty Wks. 1730 I. 98 A thousand maudlin oaths of friendship. 1779 Sheridan Critic ii. ii, Is this a time for maudling tenderness? 1845 Disraeli Sybil (Rtldg.) 317 The mob became not only enthusiastic but maudlin. 1877 Farrar Days of Youth xiii. 123 Doing right only in maudlin dreams, not in manly effort. |
3. (First in
maudlin-drunk: see 4.) Used to designate that stage of drunkenness which is characterized by the shedding of tears and effusive displays of affection. Phrase,
† to drink maudlin.
| 1616 R.C. Times' Whistle v. 1958 The second kinde we maudline drunkards call. 1668 R. L'Estrange Vis. Quev. (1708) 40 Am not I here, the Fifth Husband of a woman yet living in the World, that hopes to..drink Maudlin at the Fifteenth Funeral? a 1700 B.E. Dict. Cant. Crew, Mawdlin, weepingly Drunk, as we say the Tears of the Tankard. 1714 Addison Spect. No. 561 ¶12 When they grow Maudlin, they are very apt to commemorate their former Partners with a Tear. 1789 E. Darwin Bot. Gard. ii. (1791) 110 ‘Drink deep, sweet youths’, seductive Vitis cries, The maudlin tear-drop glittering in her eyes. 1840 Dickens Old C. Shop xxiii, The maudlin state or stage of drunkenness. 1860 All Year Round No. 49. 533 His potations had rendered him somewhat maudlin. |
4. Comb. (with another
adj.) as
maudlin-kind,
maudlin-moral;
maudlin-cupped, having drunk enough to become maudlin;
maudlin-drunk,
† drunken [
orig. a similative comb. of the
n.], in the maudlin stage of intoxication.
| 1627–77 Feltham Resolves ii. xxix. 220 Claudius..being *Maudline cupp'd, he grew to lament the Destiny of his marriages. |
| 1509 Barclay Shyp of Folys (1570) 33 Some *maudlayne dronke, mourning loudly and hye. 1592 Nashe P. Penilesse 23 b, Mawdlen drunke, when a fellow wil weepe for kindnes in the midst of his Ale and kisse you. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 47 ¶5 Such a Tragedian is only maudlin drunk. 1856 Miss Mulock J. Halifax xix, Another ill-looking fellow, maudlin drunk. |
| 1685 G. Meriton Yorks. Ale 8 Some *Maudlin drunken were, and wept full sore. |
| a 1668 Davenant Man's the Master Wks. (1673) 367, I am *Maudlin kind, would I had one of thy Hoods to cover my face. |
| 1842 Tennyson Will Waterproof 208 It is but yonder empty glass That makes me *maudlin-moral. |
Hence
ˈmaudlinize v. trans., to make maudlin, to cause to be in a maudlin state of intoxication;
ˈmaudlinism, the state of being maudlin-drunk.
| a 1652 Brome Covent Garden iv. ii, I hope 'twill maudlenize him. 1837 Dickens Pickw. xxxviii, Mr. Benjamin Allen had perhaps a greater predisposition to maudlinism than he had ever known before. |