Forms: 5 querdlyng, qwerdelyng, 6 codlyng, 6–7 quodling(e, quadling, 7– codling, codlin. [The later forms quodling, codling, are perh. corruptions of the earlier querdling. The latter is explained in the Promptorium as duracenum, app. L. dūracinus, -um ‘hard-berried, hard,’ orig. said of the grape, hence of other fruits, as peaches, cherries, etc. Assuming that querdling had a meaning corresponding to this, it has been suggested that it might be a derivative of ME. quert ‘sound’; though this is not very satisfactory either in form or in sense.
Palgrave’s explanation pomme cuite, and Skinner’s pomum coctile, together with the very frequent references in the 17th c. to the coddling of apples or pippins (see CODDLE v.1), and the frequent spelling of the latter with qu-, seem to show that the two words were thought to be connected. But the form querdling, the late appearance of the verb coddle, and want of early examples of a descriptive phrase ‘coddling apple,’ all tend to indicate that this association was non-original and incidental.]
1. A variety of apple, in shape elongated and rather tapering towards the eye, having several modern sub-varieties, as Kentish Codling, Keswick Codling, etc.
From the beginning the name seems to have been applied to a hard kind of apple, not suitable to be eaten raw; hence to any immature or half-grown apple. In the beginning of the 17th c. it was applied to a variety suitable to be cooked while still unripe; but the peculiar codling shape appears to have determined the modern application.
c. 1440. Anc. Cookery, in Househ. Ord. (1790), 472. Blomes of querdelynges or of other gode frute.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 420/2. Querdlynge, appulle, Duracenum.
1530. Palsgr., 206/2. Codlyng, frute, pomme cvite.
1586. Cogan, Haven Health, cii. (1636), 100. Raw apples and Quodlings are by this rule rejected.
1601. Shaks., Twel. N., I. v. 167. As a squash is before tis a pescod, or a Codling when tis almost an Apple.
1625. Bacon, Ess., Gardens (Arb.), 556. In Iuly … Early Peares, and Plummes in Fruit; Ginnitings; Quadlins.
1676. Worlidge, Cyder (1691), 206. The Codling, so called from the use it is put unto, is a very necessary apple in the Kitchin.
1712. Swift, Midas. A codling e’er it went his lip in, Wou’d strait become a golden pippin.
1715. Kersey, Codlin, a kind of Apple that is proper to be coddled or stewed. [So Bailey, 1721–1800.]
1740. Somerville, Hobbinol, III. (1749), 158. Green Codlings float In dulcet Creams.
1755. Johnson, Codling, an apple, generally codled, to be mixed with milk [‘and, it may be added, an apple not quite ripe.’ Todd].
1802. W. Forsyth, Fruit-Trees, 59. The Codlin is generally the first Apple that is brought to market.
1879. Prior, Plant-n., Codlin, originally coddling, from coddle, to stew or boil lightly, a boiling apple, an apple for coddling or boiling, a term used in Shakspeare of an immature apple, such as would require cooking to be eaten, but now applied to a particular variety.
b. The tree that bears codlings.
1657. Austen, Fruit Trees, I. 66. It is the custome (of late); to make … hedges of Quodlings,… Plums, Vines.
1669. Worlidge, Syst. Agric. (1681), 129. The Kentish Codling is very easily propagated by Slips or Suckers.
1879. Jefferies, Wild Life in S. Co., 176. They [goldfinches] build in the same trees—bushy-headed codlings.
c. Hot codlings: roasted apples (formerly commonly sold hot in the London streets).
c. 1624. Ford, etc. Sun’s Darling, III. iii. if I be not deceeved, I ha’ seen Summer go up and down with hot codlings.
a. 1825. Popular Song, A little old woman, her living she got, By selling hot codlings, hot, hot, hot.
1881. Daily Tel., 23 Feb., 5/3. Hot codlings may now be sought for in vain.
(Gifford explained quot. 1624 as ‘green pease.’ (cf. CODLING5); but his grounds for this appear insufficient. Cf. however CODDLE v.1 2, as used of peas; whence, it has been suggested, ‘roasted peas’ may have been called coddlings.)
† 2. fig. Applied to a raw youth. Obs.
1610. B. Jonson, Alch., I. i. B 3 b. Svb. Who is it, Dol? Dol. A fine yong Quodling. Fac. O My Lawyers Clearke, I lighted on, last night.
c. 1640. Shirley, Capt. Underwit, IV. ii. in Bullen, O. Pl. (1883), II. 379. Take a very fine young Codling heire and pound him as small as you can … then you must cozen him.
1663. Flagellum; or O. Cromwell, 125. All the Codlings and Embryons of Triploe.
3. transf. ‘Codlins. Limestones partially burnt. North’ (Halliwell).
4. attrib. and Comb., as codling-apple, -hedge, -tart, -tree; codling-moth, a species of moth (Carpocapsa pomonella), the larva of which feeds on the apple; codlings-and-cream, a popular name of the Willow-herb (Epilobium hirsutum), from the smell of its flowers, or of its leaves when bruised; codling-shaped a., of the elongated and tapered shape of a codling.
1767. Monro, in Phil. Trans., LVII. 489. Two dozen of *codling apples.
[1705. Celia Fiennes, Diary (1888), 300. A *Coddling hedge secured a walke of orange and Lemmon trees in perfection.
1885. H. C. McCook, Tenants Old Farm, 92. The caterpillar of the *codling-moth.
1670. Ray, Catal. Plant. Angl. (Britten & H.), Called … *Codlings and Cream, from the smell of the leaves a little bruised.
1663. Pepys, Diary, 27 July. We liked very well their *Codlin tarts.
1629. MS. Acc. St. John’s Hosp. Canterb. When the *quodlinge tree was sold.
1677. Hale, Prim. Orig. Man., 267. The Branch of a Willow, Codling-Tree or Vine will take root being set in the ground.
1882. Garden, 4 Feb., 72/2. Most of the *Codlin tribe … keep equally free from canker or mildew.
