porringer

Alteration of Middle English potynger, potager (“small dish for stew”), from Old French potage. See also porridge.

porringer (plural porringers)

1. A small cup or bowl, usually with a handle, commonly used for porridge.
   • 1938, Daphne de Maurier, Rebecca:

     There was a little clutch of boiled eggs as well, in their own special heater, and porridge, in a silver porringer.

2. (obsolete) A headdress shaped like such a dish.
   • 1613 (date written), William Shakespeare, [John Fletcher], “The Famous History of the Life of King Henry the Eight”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene iv]:

     Wife of small wit, neere him, that rail'd vpon me, till her
     pinck'd porrenger fell off her head