Emily Dickinson Lexicon

POR'RIDGE, n. [Qu. pottage, by corruption, or L. farrago, or from porrum, a leek.]

A kind of food made by boiling meat in water; broth. – Johnson. This mixture is usually called in America, broth or soup, but not porridge. With us, porridge is a mixture of meal or flour, boiled with water. Perhaps this distinction is not always observed.