English

Noun

posset ‎(plural possets)

1. A beverage composed of hot milk curdled by some strong infusion, such as wine.
   • Shakespeare

     I have drugged their posset.

2. A baby's vomit, comprising curdled milk.
   • 2008, Miriam Stoppard, Complete Baby and Childcare: Everything You Need to Know for the First Five Years, Dorling Kindersley Ltd (ISBN 9781405333931)

     Some people will tell you that this position may allow inhalation of posset, but there is no evidence to support this.

   • 2012, Dave Hill, Man Alive, Hachette UK (ISBN 9780755396580)

     Derek saw that a smear of posset had appeared on the left shoulder of his jacket [...] He smiled softly at Charlotte and said softly, 'I've been puked on.'

   • 2014, Nick Harper, Help! I'm a Dad: All a new dad needs to know about the difficult first few months, Michael O'Mara Books (ISBN 9781782432388)

     While a little posseting is nothing to be worried about, a lot of posset is more likely to be 'reflux'.

Verb

posset ‎(third-person singular simple present possets, present participle posseting, simple past and past participle posseted)

1. (obsolete) To curdle; to turn, as milk; to coagulate.

   to posset the blood

2. To treat with possets; to pamper.
   • 1908, Arnold Bennett, The Old Wives' Tale

     Nevertheless, as she laid him in bed and posseted him, how frail and fragile he looked!

3. (of a baby) To vomit up curdled milk.
   • 1990, Miriam Stoppard, The New Baby Care Book (ISBN 9780863184529)

     Some babies never posset at all. Others do so with surprising ease, and this can be quite a cause of concern to parents.

   • 2003, Pearson Education, Limited, Baby's First Year, Pearson South Africa (ISBN 9781868911875), page 23

     All babies posset.

   • 2012, Andy Raffles, Felicity Fine, Harriet Sharkey, Yehudi Gordon, Mother and Baby Health: The A-Z of pregnancy, birth and beyond, Random House (ISBN 9781446490167), page 421

     It's also common for babies to 'posset' - bring up small amounts of milk after a feed - and to vomit occasionally.

Synonyms

• (pamper): coddle, cosset, pamper

Derived terms

• sneck posset
• give a sneck posset

References

• posset in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913

Anagrams

• estops
• posets
• ptoses
• stoeps
• stopes

Latin

Pronunciation

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈpos.set/, [ˈpɔs.sɛt]

Verb

posset

1. third-person singular imperfect active subjunctive of possum  "he would be able (to)"