spaddle

English

Etymology

Probably spade +‎ -le, but compare spattle and paddle. (Can this⁽⁺⁾ etymology be sourced?)

Noun

spaddle (plural spaddles)

1. (obsolete) A little spade.
2. (obsolete) A kitchen tool that is flattened at one end, similar to a spatula, usually made of wood or copper.
   • 1807, Frederick Nutt, The Complete Confectioner, page 42:

     Pick the stalks from the strawberries, and put them into a large copper preserving pan; mash them with your spaddle to break them as much as you can;

   • 1829, William Alexis Jarrin, The Italian Confectioner, page 61:

     Take some cheries, quite ripe, clear them from the stalks and stones, put them in a pan on the fire, and boil them for a little time; take them off and pass them through a hair sieve, by the help of a spaddle,' weigh the pulp, and to every pound add a pound of loaf-sugar; clarify it, and boil it to the feather; having reduced the cherries to a paste, mix it with the sugar with the spaddle; put it again on the fire till it boils, and pour it into moulds or on tin plates, and let it dry in the stove;

   • 1836, The young cook's guide; with practical observations, page 291:

     when it is all sifted return it back again into the mortar, and with a strong wooden spaddle mix in as much white of egg, one or two at a time, as will make the almonds into paste ; work it well with the spaddle till the paste becomes perfectly smooth :

Anagrams

• paddles, spalded