water gruel

English

Noun

water gruel (countable and uncountable, plural water gruels)

1. A thin food made of water cooked with a small portion of oatmeal or similar substance, sometimes seasoned with other ingredients. [from 15th c.]
   • 1828, JT Smith, Nollekens and His Times, Century Hutchinson, published 1986, page 78:

     [A]t the very time when he was so very humane to poor Richardson, he absolutely suffered his own uncle and aunt to sell their beds to support them in water-gruel […] .