madeleine

¹

[ mad-l-in, mad-l-eyn; French maduh-len ]

noun

, French Cooking.

, plural mad·e·leines [mad, -l-inz, mad-l-, eynz, m, a, d, uh, -, len].

1. a small shell-shaped cake made of flour, eggs, sugar, and butter and baked in a mold.
2. something that triggers memories or nostalgia: in allusion to a nostalgic passage in Proust's Remembrance of Things Past.

Madeleine

²

[ mad-l-in, -lahyn; French maduh-len ]

noun

1. a female given name, form of Magdalene.

madeleine

/ -ˌleɪn; ˈmædəlɪn /

noun

1. a small fancy sponge cake

Word History and Origins

Origin of madeleine¹

1835–45; < French, earlier gâteau à la Madeleine, after the female given name; the attribution of the recipe to an 18th-century cook named Madeleine Pau(l)mier is unsubstantiated

Word History and Origins

Origin of madeleine¹

C19: perhaps after Madeleine Paulmier, French pastry cook

Example Sentences

Madeleine was always a force for goodness, grace and decency—and for freedom.

From Washington Blade

Bond shoots Safin dead, and then calls Madeleine to wish her farewell as he watches several missiles approach the island.

From Time

During a fight scene, one such thug insinuates that Madeleine betrayed him—just like Vesper had.

From Time

Madeleine will, of course, later in the movie confess that his suspicions are well-founded.

From Time

Meneghetti has also said the idea for his movie actually came from his encounter with a real-life living arrangement like the one shared by Nina and Madeleine.

From Washington Blade

Early in her career, she and designer Madeleine Vionnet sued a woman in Paris for copying some 20,000 sketches of their designs.

From The Daily Beast

Normally I might look to Samantha Power or Madeleine Albright or Hillary Clinton for foreign policy wisdom.

From The Daily Beast

Despite the fact that her husband had left France four years earlier, Madeleine had recently given birth to a healthy baby boy.

From The Daily Beast

As our car sped along the Boulevard de la Madeleine, I was filled with hope and excitement.

From The Daily Beast

Several people at the resort had seen a man carrying a small bundled child on the night Madeleine disappeared.

From The Daily Beast

I have looked in,” said Aristide, with his ingratiating smile, “to see whether you are ready to go to the Madeleine.

From Project Gutenberg

In 1840 he did some work on an unfinished house in the suburbs of the Madeleine, purchased by the Thuilliers.

From Project Gutenberg

Daphne was still erect, self-confident, militant; whereas Madeleine knew herself vanquished—vanquished both in body and soul.

From Project Gutenberg

Madeleine turned her face towards the gorge, her wasted hands clasped on her breast.

From Project Gutenberg

The flower markets which always made Paris so attractive have vanished, even the famous flower market in front of the Madeleine.

From Project Gutenberg