posset

Welsh

posset (plural possets)

1. A beverage composed of hot milk curdled by some strong infusion, such as wine.
   • Shakespeare

     I have drugged their posset.

2. A baby's vomit, comprising curdled milk.
   • 2008, Miriam Stoppard, Complete Baby and Childcare: Everything You Need to Know for the First Five Years, Dorling Kindersley Ltd →ISBN

     Some people will tell you that this position may allow inhalation of posset, but there is no evidence to support this.

   • 2012, Dave Hill, Man Alive, Hachette UK →ISBN

     Derek saw that a smear of posset had appeared on the left shoulder of his jacket [...] He smiled softly at Charlotte and said softly, 'I've been puked on.'

   • 2014, Nick Harper, Help! I'm a Dad: All a new dad needs to know about the difficult first few months, Michael O'Mara Books →ISBN

     While a little posseting is nothing to be worried about, a lot of posset is more likely to be 'reflux'.

posset (third-person singular simple present possets, present participle posseting, simple past and past participle posseted)

1. (obsolete) To curdle; to turn, as milk; to coagulate.

   to posset the blood

2. To treat with possets; to pamper.
   • 1908, Arnold Bennett, The Old Wives' Tale

     Nevertheless, as she laid him in bed and posseted him, how frail and fragile he looked!

3. (of a baby) To vomit up curdled milk.
   • 1990, Miriam Stoppard, The New Baby Care Book →ISBN

     Some babies never posset at all. Others do so with surprising ease, and this can be quite a cause of concern to parents.

   • 2003, Pearson Education, Limited, Baby's First Year, Pearson South Africa →ISBN, page 23

     All babies posset.

   • 2012, Andy Raffles, Felicity Fine, Harriet Sharkey, Yehudi Gordon, Mother and Baby Health: The A-Z of pregnancy, birth and beyond, Random House →ISBN, page 421

     It's also common for babies to 'posset' - bring up small amounts of milk after a feed - and to vomit occasionally.

• (pamper): coddle, cosset, pamper

• sneck posset
• give a sneck posset

• posset in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, G. & C. Merriam, 1913.

• T poses, T-poses, e-stops, estops, pestos, posest, posets, ptoses, stoeps, stopes

• (Classical) IPA^(key): /ˈpos.set/, [ˈpɔs.sɛt]

posset

1. third-person singular imperfect active subjunctive of possum  "he would be able (to)"