porridge

C2 Topic:Food & Drink
US /ˈpɔɹɪd͡ʒ/ UK /ˈpɒɹ.ɪd͡ʒ/
noun Freq #12020

Meanings

  1. 1
    noun

    A dish made of grain or legumes, milk or water, heated and stirred until thick and typically eaten for breakfast.

    Eat your porridge while it's hot!

  2. 2
    noun

    A prison sentence.

    Just do your porridge and keep your head down.

  3. 3
    noun

    soft food made by boiling oatmeal or other meal or legumes in water or milk until thick

  4. 4
    noun

    A type of thick soup or stew, especially thickened with barley.

Thesaurus

Word family
Derived forms plum-porridgeporridge-stickporridgelessporridgelikeporridgywater-porridge
Related forms congeegrueloatmeal

Etymology

Variant of pottage (“thick soup or stew”), influenced by porray (“stew of leeks”). The "prison sentence" sense comes from the British tradition of serving prisoners porridge for breakfast.

Topics

markdown

Send feedback

Optional — only if you'd like a reply.