Madeleine

Pronunciation

• UK IPA: /ˈmadÉ™lɪn/, /madˈlÉ›n/
• US IPA: /ˈmædÉ™lɪn/

Origin

From French madeleine, earlier gâteau à la Madeleine, of uncertain origin; attributed in some sources to a 19th-century pastry cook Madeleine Paulmier whose existence is now considered dubious. (Compare Oxford English Dictionary, Trésor de la Langue Française)

Full definition of madeleine

Noun

1. A small gateau or sponge cake, often shaped like an elongated scallop shell.
• 1981, CK Scott Moncrieff & Terence Kilmartin, translating Marcel Proust, Swann's Way, Folio Society 2005, p. 44:And suddenly the memory revealed itself. The taste was that of the little piece of madeleine which on Sunday mornings at Combray ... my aunt Léonie used to give me, dipping it first in her own cup of tea or tisane.
• 2003, Emily Luchetti, A Passion for Desserts, Chronicle Books 2003, p. 20:Madeleine batter can be made in advance and refrigerated.
2. Something which brings back a memory; a source of nostalgia or evocative memories (used with reference to its function in Marcel Proust's In Search of Lost Time).
• 2001, James Carroll, Constantine's Sword, Houghton-Mifflin 2001, p. 223:The Robe was thus fixed in my mind as a symbol, and in my memory as a madeleine, of Jewish evil.
• 2005, Roger Ebert, Rogert Ebert's Movie Yearbook 2005, p. 784:Every five years or so, in the middle of another task, I'll look at them and a particular cover will bring memory flooding back like a madeleine.