darling
Language: English
Part of speech: adj
Pronunciation: ipa: /ˈdɑːlɪŋ/
enpr: där'lĭng
ipa: /ˈdɑɹlɪŋ/
rhymes: -ɑː(ɹ)lɪŋ
Forms: form: more darling
form: darlinger
form: most darling
form: darlingest
form: dearling
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.
Senses: examples: text: She is my darling wife of twenty-two years.
text: Do thou dred infant, Venus dearling doue, / From her high ſpirit chaſe imperious feare, / And vſe of avvfull Maieſtie remoue: […]
ref: 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book IV”, in The Faerie Queene. […], part II (books IV–VI), London: […] [Richard Field] for William Ponsonby, →OCLC, stanza 5, page 2:
text: Rough vvindes do ſhake the darling buds of Maie, / And Sommers leaſe hath all too ſhort a date: […]
ref: 1609, William Shakespeare, “Sonnet 18”, in Shake-speares Sonnets. […], London: By G[eorge] Eld for T[homas] T[horpe] and are to be sold by William Aspley, →OCLC, signature B4, verso:
text: VVherefore, for the future, I am reſolved, to Acknovvledge my darling faults, though alone, yet aloud; […]
ref: 1645, Thomas Fuller, “Mixt Contemplations”, in Good Thoughts in Bad Times, […], Exeter, Devon: […] Thomas Hunt, →OCLC, section XVII, page 230:
text: [H]is darling Sons / Hurl'd headlong to partake vvith us, ſhall curſe / Their frail Originals, and faded bliſs, / Faded ſo ſoon.
ref: 1667, John Milton, “Book II”, in Paradise Lost. […], London: […] [Samuel Simmons], and are to be sold by Peter Parker […]; [a]nd by Robert Boulter […]; [a]nd Matthias Walker, […], →OCLC, signature [E4], recto, lines 373–376:
text: Now Ellen was a darling love / In all his joys and cares: / And Ellen's name and Mary's name / Fast-link'd they both together came, / Whene'er he said his prayers.
ref: 1793–1817 (date written), S[amuel] T[aylor] Coleridge, “The Three Graves. A Fragment of a Sexton’s Tale.”, in Sibylline Leaves: A Collection of Poems, London: Rest Fenner, […], published 1817, →OCLC, page 226:
text: He saw a cottage with a double coach-house, / A cottage of gentility; / And the Devil did grin, for his darling sin / Is pride that apes humility.
ref: 1799 September 6, Samuel Taylor Coleridge, “[Sibylline Leaves.] The Devil’s Thoughts”, in The Poetical and Dramatic Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge […], volume II, London: Macmillan and Co., published 1880, →OCLC, stanza VI, page 137:
text: Mr. Bingley and Jane remained at Netherfield only a twelvemonth. So near a vicinity to her mother and Meryton relations was not desirable even to his easy temper, or her affectionate heart. The darling wish of his sisters was then gratified; he bought an estate in a neighbouring county to Derbyshire, and Jane and Elizabeth, in addition to every other source of happiness, were within thirty miles of each other.
ref: 1813 January 27, [Jane Austen], chapter XXIII, in Pride and Prejudice: […], volume I, London: […] [George Sidney] for T[homas] Egerton, […], →OCLC, page 316:
text: [M]y dear sweet master, / My darling little Cyclops [Polyphemus], […]
ref: a. 1823 (date written), Euripides, “The Cyclops; a Satyric Drama. Translated from the Greek of Euripides.”, in Percy Bysshe Shelley, transl., edited by Mary W[ollstonecraft] Shelley, Posthumous Poems of Percy Bysshe Shelley, London: […] [C. H. Reynell] for John and Henry L[eigh] Hunt, […], published 1824, →OCLC, page 341:
text: A few enthusiasts on the other side were bent on pursuing, through endless civil troubles, their darling phantom of a republic.
ref: 1849, Thomas Babington Macaulay, chapter I, in The History of England from the Accession of James II, volume I, London: Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans, →OCLC, page 101:
text: My unchanged love is with my darling child, and I forgive her!
ref: 1849 May – 1850 November, Charles Dickens, The Personal History of David Copperfield, London: Bradbury & Evans, […], published 1850, →OCLC, page 334:
glosses: Very dear; beloved, cherished, favourite.
examples: text: Well, isn’t that a darling little outfit she has on?
text: Isn't it the darlingest, sweetest, prettiest, little dear darling darling! Oh! did you ever!!
ref: 1854 March 4, Punch, or The London Charivari, volume XXVI, number 660, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], →OCLC, page 116:
qualifier: affected
glosses: Very cute or lovable; adorable, charming, sweet.
Derived terms: darlingly
darlingness