Refine this word faster
Darling
Definitions
- 1 Very dear; beloved, cherished, favourite.
"She is my darling wife of twenty-two years."
- 2 Very cute or lovable; adorable, charming, sweet.
"Well, isn’t that a darling little outfit she has on?"
- 1 dearly loved wordnet
- 1 An English and Scottish surname transferred from the nickname, originally a nickname from darling.
"Richard and David Darling, founders of Codemasters, a multimillion-pound computer game company, dropped out of school aged 15 and 16 to write computer games […]"
- 2 A major river of Queensland and New South Wales, Australia, named for Governor Ralph Darling.
- 3 The Australian aboriginal language Baagandji, spoken along this river in New South Wales.
- 4 A small town in the Western Cape province, South Africa.
- 5 A census-designated place in Quitman County, Mississippi, United States.
- 1 Often used as an affectionate term of address: a person who is very dear to one.
"Pass the wine, would you, darling?"
- 2 a beloved person; used as terms of endearment wordnet
- 3 A person who is kind, sweet, etc., and thus lovable; a pet, a sweetheart; also, an animal or thing which is cute and lovable.
"The girl next door picks up all my shopping for me. She is such a darling."
- 4 a special loved one wordnet
- 5 A favourite.
"And in ſo muche the more peril and haſard of the ſaid diſeaſes [“ambicion, auarice, riottous exceſſe, hatred, enuye, and ſuche others”] do the princes ſtand, as they are more then others made wantons ⁊ derelynges of fortune, and haue lybertie withoute checke or controllemente to fulfyll their owne ſenſuall luſtes and appetites."
Show 3 more definitions
- 6 A favourite.; The favourite child in a family.
"Mary, the youngest daughter, was always her mother’s darling."
- 7 A favourite.; A person (often a woman) or thing that is very popular with a certain group of people. broadly
"a media darling"
- 8 A favourite.; A royal favourite, the intimate companion of a monarch or other royal personage, often delegated significant political power. obsolete
"When kyng Henry perceiued, that the cõmons [commons] wer thus ſtomacked and bent, againſt the Quenes [Margaret of Anjou's] dearlynge William [de la Pole,] Duke of Suffolke, he plainly ſawe, that neither gloſyng woulde ſette, nor diſſimulacion coulde appeace, the continuall clamor of the importunate cõmons: Wherefore to begyn a ſhorte pacificacion in to long a broyle."
- 1 To call (someone) "darling" (noun noun sense 1). informal, transitive
"The frisky female, we have noticed, has one most unpleasant trick; it is that of darlinging and duckeying and otherwise spooneying her husband … in public. He is invariably, invariably set down as an ass, without its being in the least his fault."
Etymology
The noun is derived from Middle English dereling, derelyng (“beloved person; beloved of God, devout Christian”), from Old English dīerling, dēorling (“favourite, darling; minion”), from Proto-West Germanic *diuriling, from Proto-Germanic *diurijalingaz, from *diurijaz (“beloved, dear; expensive”) (further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ- (“hot, warm; to burn”), or *dweh₂- (“distant, long; to remove, separate”)) + *-ilingaz (suffix forming (diminutive) nouns with the sense of ‘belonging to; coming from’). By surface analysis, dear + -ling (suffix meaning ‘immature; small’). The adjective is from an attributive use of the noun. The verb is also derived from the noun.
The noun is derived from Middle English dereling, derelyng (“beloved person; beloved of God, devout Christian”), from Old English dīerling, dēorling (“favourite, darling; minion”), from Proto-West Germanic *diuriling, from Proto-Germanic *diurijalingaz, from *diurijaz (“beloved, dear; expensive”) (further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ- (“hot, warm; to burn”), or *dweh₂- (“distant, long; to remove, separate”)) + *-ilingaz (suffix forming (diminutive) nouns with the sense of ‘belonging to; coming from’). By surface analysis, dear + -ling (suffix meaning ‘immature; small’). The adjective is from an attributive use of the noun. The verb is also derived from the noun.
The noun is derived from Middle English dereling, derelyng (“beloved person; beloved of God, devout Christian”), from Old English dīerling, dēorling (“favourite, darling; minion”), from Proto-West Germanic *diuriling, from Proto-Germanic *diurijalingaz, from *diurijaz (“beloved, dear; expensive”) (further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ- (“hot, warm; to burn”), or *dweh₂- (“distant, long; to remove, separate”)) + *-ilingaz (suffix forming (diminutive) nouns with the sense of ‘belonging to; coming from’). By surface analysis, dear + -ling (suffix meaning ‘immature; small’). The adjective is from an attributive use of the noun. The verb is also derived from the noun.
See also for "darling"
Next best steps
Mini challenge
Unscramble this word: darling