Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue – Day 161

The Dictionary of the Vulgar Tongue was first published at the end of the eighteenth century, and given that the current health crisis is giving too much time to read books, I thought I’d pick a daily word from it until I got bored….

Hot Pot

This isn’t the definition that I expected from Grose, which is “ale and brandy made hot”. Grose didn’t mention this in the dictionary, but it’s likely a phrase used in Norfolk and Suffolk in the eighteenth century, simply meaning a warm ale or a warm brandy. This is a literal definition, as ‘pot’ used to mean a drinking vessel, and a few real ale drinkers still use that word.

Incidentally, and as an aside, the English dish of hot pot likely has a different meaning, from ‘hodge podge’, or a random collection of ingredients.