Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A thick soup containing fish or shellfish, especially clams, and vegetables, such as potatoes and onions, in a milk or tomato base.
  • noun A soup similar to this seafood dish.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A dish of fish or clams boiled with biscuits or crackers, pork, potatoes, onions, etc., and variously seasoned. It is common among the fishermen on the banks of Newfoundland and in New England.
  • noun A picnic party, especially at the sea-shore, at which the main dish is chowder. See def. 1.
  • noun A fish-seller. Halliwell.
  • To make a chowder of: as, to chowder fish.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To make a chowder of.
  • noun (Cookery) A dish made of fresh fish or clams, biscuit, onions, etc., stewed together.
  • noun Prov. Eng. A seller of fish.
  • noun a liquor made by boiling black spruce in water and mixing molasses with the decoction.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun A thick, creamy soup or stew.
  • noun A stew, particularly fish or seafood, not necessarily thickened.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a thick soup or stew made with milk and bacon and onions and potatoes

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[French chaudière, stew pot, from Old French, from Late Latin caldāria; see cauldron.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Probably from French chaudière ("pot"), from chaud ("hot") (also related to the Latin caldaria and English cauldron). Possibly from Old English jowter ("fish monger").

Support

Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word chowder.

Examples

Comments

Log in or sign up to get involved in the conversation. It's quick and easy.

  • '...say it right.'

    December 9, 2006

  • "New England clam chowder."

    "Is that the red or the white?"

    August 21, 2007

  • TAWVFCI/OP(?)MPB&CSRU!!!

    August 21, 2007

  • The Award-Winning Virginia Fighting Cavalier Indoor/Outdoor Precision(?) Marching PEP Band & Chowder Society Revue, Unlimited!!!

    August 21, 2007

  • Rats! ;)

    August 21, 2007

  • Nothing, I says nothing, gets by the uselessness.

    August 21, 2007

  • THE uselessness? Like The Donald?

    August 21, 2007

  • As long as you're going to be thinking anyway, you might as well think big. ;-)

    August 21, 2007

  • Wow. That's pretty scary, The uselessness.

    August 22, 2007

  • You're fired!

    August 22, 2007

  • Good! I could use a vacation. ;->

    August 22, 2007