CALDRON, a large kitchen utensil, commonly made of copper; having a moveable iron handle, whereby to hang it on the chimney-hook. The word is formed from the French chaudron, or rather the Latin caldarium.
Boiling in CALDRONS, (caldarium decoquere), is a capital punishment spoken of in the middle-age writers, decreed to divers sorts of criminals, but chiefly to debaters of the coin. One of the torments inflicted on the ancient Christian martyrs, was boiling in caldrons of water, oil, &c.