cauldron

Etymology

From Middle English caudroun, borrowed from Old Northern French caudron, ultimately from Late Latin caldāria (“cooking-pot”), from Latin caldus (“hot”). Spelling later Latinized by having an l inserted. See chowder, caldera. The military sense is a semantic loan from German Kessel; compare English kettling.

noun

1. A large bowl-shaped pot used for boiling over an open flame.
   […] I don't expect you will really understand the beauty of the softly simmering cauldron with its shimmering fumes, the delicate power of liquids that creep through human veins, bewitching the mind, ensnaring the senses … […] 1997, J. K. Rowling, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Raincoast Books, page 102
   Large cauldrons are a little tricky to locate, but are well worth the search if you have a place to safely store and use one. 2004, Carl Neal, The Magick Toolbox: The Ultimate Compendium for Choosing and Using Ritual Implements and Magickal Tools, Red Wheel/Weiser, LLC
2. (military) A strategic encirclement.
   Coordinate term: kettle
   After having defended the constantly shrinking perimeter of their position for over two weeks, the encircled German units in the Cherkassy “cauldron” were ordered to break out. 1966, George H. Stein, The Waffen SS: Hitler’s Elite Guard at War, 1939–1945, page 217
   The cauldron had been formed, and some 2,000 Soviets had been encircled in it; the division estimated this quite a success. 2012, Hans Wijers, Winter Storm: The Battle for Stalingrad and the Operation to Rescue 6th Army, page 153
   This could have been avoided had the Ukrainian Army either evacuated the troops in the southern cauldron once it became clear that their position was untenable or reinforced them substantially in order to reopen supply lines. 2016, Paul Robinson, “Explaining the Ukrainian Army’s defeat in Donbass in 2014”, in J. L. Black, Michael Johns, editors, The Return of the Cold War: Ukraine, the West and Russia, page 120