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Make Your Point > Archived Issues > CAULDRON

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pronounce CAULDRON:

CALL drun

Hear it.

connect this word to others:

In Latin, calor, calidus, and calere mean, respectively, "heat," "hot," and "to be hot."

These trickled into English into words like cauldron, scald, calorie, chowder (originally named for the pot it was cooked in), caldera, chafe, chauffeur (originally a person who would heat up a steam engine), and ré____ffé ("reheated: reused, like warmed-up leftovers, and therefore unimpressive").

Can you recall that last one?

(To reveal any word with blanks, give it a click.)

definition:

The word "cauldron" traces back to a Latin one meaning "cooking pot," and further back to the Latin calidus, meaning "warm, or hot." In various spellings, "cauldron" has been around in English since the 1300s.

A cauldron is a large kettle or boiler for cooking.

(Source)

We tend to associate cauldrons with stories of witches cooking up potions. Especially that line from Macbeth where the three witches are cooking up their evil plans:

(Source)

So, in a figurative sense, a cauldron is any messy, turbulent situation: one that seems to boil and bubble, like a witch's potion.

grammatical bits:

Part of speech:

Noun, the countable kind: "a cauldron of rumors and seething hate."

Other forms: 

The plural is "cauldrons."

There's an alternate spelling, "caldron," which is older and used to be the more popular one. Not anymore!

And there's some evidence for "cauldron" being used as a verb. Which just goes to show you: you can verbify anything! Here's Joel Barlow: "thy dark fiend, that hides his blind abode, / And cauldrons in his cave."

how to use it:

Pick the clear, common, spooky word "cauldron" to describe any situation that seems to boil and bubble like a witch's brew.

Typically we call something "a cauldron of certain things." For extra drama, we add an adjective: "a seething cauldron of jealousies and accusations," "a boiling cauldron of political fervor," "an overflowing cauldron of anger and ambitions."

examples:

"It turned out that under the western United States there was a huge cauldron of magma, a colossal volcanic hot spot which erupted cataclysmically every 600,000 years or so."
   — Bill Bryson, A Short History of Nearly Everything, 2003

"In Chicago Myrta saw at once that the stories Holmes had told of the city had only barely captured its glamour and dangerous energy. It was like a cauldron of steaming iron, trains everywhere—jarring..."
   — Erik Larson, The Devil in the White City, 2003

has this page helped you understand "cauldron"?

   

Awesome, I'm glad it helped!

Thanks for letting me know!
If you have any questions about this word, please message me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.


study it:

Explain the meaning of "cauldron" without saying "crucible" or "bubbling pot."

try it out:

Describing a character she'd played, Sigourney Weaver told the New York Times that "Norma is a really complex character — I saw her referred to as icy, but I think she’s a cauldron."

First, see if you can explain what she means: If a character seems icy but is truly a cauldron, then what could be going on inside that character?

Next, see if you could give your own example of a character you'd describe as a cauldron. What are the various hopes or feelings bubbling away inside this character?




before you review, play:

Try to spend 20 seconds or more on the game below. Don’t skip straight to the review—first, let your working memory empty out.

Our game for May is "The Rock & Roll Hall of Game."

It's inspired by a Jeopardy! category called Foodstock.

I'll give you a clue, and you'll try to come up with the tweaked name of a group or solo artist from the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame.

For example, if I give you "They're an American boy band fond of surfing, California, rich vocal harmonies, and helping the Mario Brothers rescue the princess," then you give me "The Peach Boys" (a playful blend of "The Beach Boys" and "Princess Peach" from the Mario games).

Try this one today: Praised by the Hall of Fame as a "razor-sharp wordsmith," this American rapper shaped hip-hop music, putting out his first hit at age sixteen and winning his first Grammy for "Mama Said Knock You Out." Since then, he’s cultivated success and suavity as an actor, a producer, and, naturally, a Scrabble champion. 

To see the answer, scroll all the way down!

review this word:

1. The opposite of a figurative CAULDRON could be

A. a GYRE or a WHIRL: an instance of twirling or spiraling around in a circle.
B. a UTOPIA or a XANADU: a place where everything is calm and peaceful.
C. an EXCORIATION or an EVISCERATION: an act of tearing someone apart with harsh, insulting words.

2. In the novel Martin Chuzzlewit, Dickens's narrator describes a group of boring men: "All their cares, hopes, joys, affections, virtues, and associations, seemed to be _____ into dollars. Whatever the chance contributions that fell into the slow cauldron of their talk, they made the _____ thick and slab with dollars."

A. harvested .. crop
B. melted down .. gruel
C. stacked neatly .. pile




Answers to the review questions:
1. B
2. B

Answer to the game question: Spell L Cool J.


a final word:

I hope you're enjoying Make Your Point. It's made with love. I'm Liesl Johnson, a reading and writing tutor on a mission to explore, illuminate, and celebrate words.

From my blog:
On vocabulary...
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      Why we forget words, & how to remember them.
      How to use sophisticated words without being awkward.
On writing...
      How to improve any sentence.
      How to motivate our kids to write.
      How to stop procrastinating and start writing.
      How to bulk up your writing when you have to meet a word count.

From my heart: a profound thanks to the generous patrons, donors, and sponsors that make it possible for me to write these emails. If you'd like to be a patron or a donor, please click here. If you'd like to be a sponsor and include your ad in an issue, please contact me at Liesl@HiloTutor.com.

A disclaimer: When I write definitions, I use plain language and stick to the words' common, useful applications. If you're interested in authoritative and multiple definitions of words, I encourage you to check a dictionary. Also, because I'm American, I stick to American English when I share words' meanings, usage, and pronunciations; these elements sometimes vary across world Englishes.

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