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 (caldariis decoquere), is a capital punishment spoken of in the middle-age writers, decreed to divers sort of criminals, but chiefly to defilers of the coin. One of the torments inflicted on the ancient Christian martyrs, was boiling in caldrons of water, oil, &c.