1) Cooking technique 2) Treating indulgently 
In cooking, to coddle food is to heat it in water kept just below the boiling point. In the past, recipes called for coddling fruit, but in recent times the term is usually only applied to coddled eggs. The process is either done in a regular pan or pot, or through the use of a special device such as an `egg coddler` (originally known as a pipki.....
• (p. pr. & vb. n.) of Coddle
A method for soft boiling eggs.