maudlin

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See also: Maudlin

English[edit]

WOTD – 6 December 2009
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Etymology[edit]

From Middle English Maudelen, a dialectal form of Mary Magdalene (typically depicted weeping), from Old French Madelaine (whence Madeleine), from Late Latin Magdalena (see Magdalena, Magdalene, and Maudlin).

Pronunciation[edit]

Noun[edit]

maudlin (plural maudlins)

  1. (obsolete, Christianity) The Magdalene; Mary Magdalene. [14th–16th c.]
    • c. 1400, Nicholas Love, transl., The Mirror of the Blessed Life of Jesus Christ:
      for alle they worſchipden hir ſouereynly / as worthy was / but ſpecially Mawdelayne / that wolde neuere departe fro hir.
  2. (historical) Either of two aromatic plants, costmary or sweet yarrow. [from 15th c.]
    • 1653, Nicholas Culpeper, The English Physician Enlarged, Folio Society, published 2007, page 186:
      Common Maudlin have somewhat long and narrow leaves, snipped about the edges.
  3. (obsolete) A Magdalene house; a brothel. [17th c.]

Derived terms[edit]

Adjective[edit]

maudlin (comparative more maudlin, superlative most maudlin)

  1. Affectionate or sentimental in an effusive, tearful, or foolish manner, especially because of drunkenness. [from 17th c.]
    Synonyms: mushy, sappy, schmaltzy, soupy, slushy; see also Thesaurus:drunk
    • 1847 January – 1848 July, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 6, in Vanity Fair […], London: Bradbury and Evans […], published 1848, →OCLC:
      Why, man, you couldn't stand—you made everybody laugh in the Gardens, though you were crying yourself. You were maudlin, Jos. Don't you remember singing a song?
    • 1894, George du Maurier, “Part Third”, in Trilby: A Novel, New York, N.Y.: Harper & Brothers, →OCLC, page 165:
      With the help of a sleepy waiter, Little Billee got the bacchanalian into his room and lit his candle for him, and, disengaging himself from his maudlin embraces, left him to wallow in solitude.
    • c. 1900, O. Henry, The Rubaiyat of a Scotch Highball:
      He was a drunkard, and had not known it. What he had fondly imagined was a pleasant exhilaration had been maudlin intoxication.
    • 1927 Mar. 31, Ernest Hemingway, letter to F. Scott Fitzgerald:
      ...you are my devoted friend too. You do more and work harder and oh shit I'd get maudlin about how damned swell you are. My god I'd like to see you... You're a hell of a good guy.
  2. Extravagantly or excessively sentimental; mawkish, self-pitying. [from 17th c.]
    Synonyms: emotional, overwrought, soppy, larmoyant, mournful, plaintful, teary, weepy; see also Thesaurus:sad
    • 1949, Henry Miller, Sexus (The Rosy Crucifixion), Grove Press, published 1965, →ISBN, page 105:
      To cap it all I had written a letter to Mara saying that we had to find a way out soon or I would commit suicide. It must have been a maudlin letter because when she telephoned me she said it was imperative to see me immediately.
    • 1961, CS Lewis, A Grief Observed:
      On the rebound one passes into tears and pathos. Maudlin tears. I almost prefer the moments of agony. These are at least clean and honest. But the bath of self-pity, the wallow, the loathsome sticky-sweet pleasure of indulging it — that disgusts me.
  3. (obsolete) Tearful, lachrymose. [17th–19th c.]

Derived terms[edit]

Translations[edit]

Anagrams[edit]

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