Changeling
adj, noun, slang ·Common ·High school level
Definitions
- 1 In pre-modern European folklore: an infant of a magical creature that was secretly exchanged for a human infant. In British, Irish and Scandinavian mythology the exchanged infants were thought to be those of fairies, sprites or trolls; in other places, they were ascribed to demons, devils, or witches. European, also, figuratively
"[S]he, as her attendant, hath / A louely boy ſtollen, from an Indian king: / She neuer had ſo ſweete a changeling."
- 2 a child secretly exchanged for another in infancy wordnet
- 3 A person or object (especially when regarded as inferior) secretly exchanged for something else. broadly
"When I firſt read Mr. Walker’s Circular Letter to the Arch-deacons, I fancied he intended to give us an Account of thoſe worthy Men, [...] But after about ten Years going with this Work, and that the Time of its Birth was come, I ſoon found it to be a perfect Changeling. Inſtead of what I expected it to be, I ſaw a huge Heap of the moſt Heterogeneous Characters, [...] a great many of them much more deſerving to have their Names blotted out, than their Memory to be preſerved."
- 4 a person of subnormal intelligence wordnet
- 5 An infant secretly exchanged with another infant deliberately or by mistake; a swapling. broadly, informal, rare
Show 3 more definitions
- 6 An organism which can change shape to mimic others; a shape-shifter.
- 7 A person apt to change their loyalty or thinking; a waverer. also, archaic, figuratively
"To face the garment of rebellion / With ſome fine colour that may pleaſe the eye / Of fickle changlings and poore diſcontents, / Which gape and rub the elbow at the newes / Of hurly-burly innouation, [...]"
- 8 An idiot, a simpleton. obsolete
"They alſo obſerue Lunaticks and changelings, and the Coniurer writeth downe their ſayings in a booke, groueling on the ground, as if he whiſperd to the Deuill to tell him the truth, and ſo expoundeth the letter, as it were by inſpiration."
- 1 Changeable, fickle, inconstant, wavering. archaic, rare
"Away thou changeling motley humouriſt, / Leave me, and in this ſtanding wooden cheſt, / Conſorted with theſe few books, let me lye / In priſon, and here be coffin'd, when I dye."
Example
More examples"In the Deep Space 9 space station, Odo is a Changeling security chief."
Etymology
The noun is derived from change + -ling (suffix with the sense ‘immature; small’). Sense 6 (“idiot, simpleton”) is from the idea that foolish children had been left by magical creatures (sense 1). The adjective is derived from the noun.