Definition of "cauldron" []

• A large vessel, such as a kettle or vat, used for boiling. (noun)
• A state or situation of great distress or unrest felt to resemble a boiling kettle or vat: a cauldron of conflicting corporate politics. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "President Bush says U.S. troops are making progress in Iraq, arguing that an early pullout would turn Iraq into what he calls a cauldron of chaos."
• "This was also the root of the English word "cauldron" and the French word chaudiere - and it is obviously a short hop from there to chowder."
• "The cauldron is the symbol for what we will be brewing this long winter."