darling
Part of speech: noun
adj
verb
Morphological type: derivation
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.
Inflected forms:
form: darlings
pos: noun
tags: plural
form: darlin'
pos: noun
tags: alternative
form: darlint
pos: noun
tags: alternative
form: dearling
pos: noun
tags: alternative
form: more darling
pos: adj
tags: comparative
form: darlinger
pos: adj
tags: comparative
rare
form: most darling
pos: adj
tags: superlative
form: darlingest
pos: adj
tags: rare
superlative
form: dearling
pos: adj
tags: alternative
form: darlings
pos: verb
tags: present
singular
third-person
form: darlinging
pos: verb
tags: participle
present
form: darlinged
pos: verb
tags: participle
past
form: darlinged
pos: verb
tags: past
Senses:
gloss: Often used as an affectionate term of address: a person who is very dear to one.
pos: noun
examples: Pass the wine, would you, darling?
[I]t is better to be / An old mans derling than a yong mans werling.
Feare ye not (ô darling) on thy ſide deſtinie runneth.
How ſhall I, void of tears, her death relate, / VVhile on her darling’s bed her mother ſate!
Sleep, sweet babe! my cares beguiling: / Mother sits beside thee smiling: / Sleep, my darling, tenderly!
My first, last love; the idol of my youth, / The darling of my manhood, and, alas! / Now the most blessed memory of mine age.
It is not worth the keeping: let it go: / But shall it? answer, darling, answer, no. / And trust me not at all or all in all.
'Twas not satiety bade me leave the dearling of my soul, ⁕ But that she sinned a mortal sin which clipt me in its clip: […]
Oh! Darling, please believe me / I'll never do you no harm
Oh, I could drink a case of you, darling / Still I'd be on my feet
"Whate'er you say, dearling." Despite her insults, Geirolf could see the love glowing in her face and he was encouraged.
"I dinna ken, dearling," he said huskily. "I wish … och, how I wish … I canna bear to think o' ye locked up in here."
Yeah, intelligent input darling / Why don't you just have another beer then?
gloss: A person who is kind, sweet, etc., and thus lovable; a pet, a sweetheart; also, an animal or thing which is cute and lovable.
pos: noun
examples: The girl next door picks up all my shopping for me. She is such a darling.
When the Crocodile Queen came home, she found / That her eggs were broken and scattered around, / And that six young Princes, darlings all, / Were missing, for none of them answer'd her call.
What did they want, then, or in what manner did he fail in his duty towards those innocent darlings [his children]?
With every flock of sheep and girls are one or two enormous mastiffs, which could eat one, and do bark nastily. But when the children call them and introduce them to you formally, they stand to be patted, and eat out of your hand; they are great darlings, and necessary against bear and wolf.
gloss: A favourite.
pos: noun
examples: 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.
[T]hat handkercher / Did an Egyptian to my mother giue, / […] ſhe told her vvhile ſhe kept it, / Tvvould make her amiable, and ſubdue my father / Intirely to her loue: […] [T]ake heed on't, / Make it [the handkerchief] a darling, like your pretious eye, / To looſe, or giue avvay, vvere ſuch perdition, / As nothing elſe could match.
Politics were never more corrupt and brutal; and Trade, that pride and darling of our ocean, that educator of nations, that benefactor in spite of itself, ends in shameful defaulting, bubble, and bankruptcy, all over the world.
gloss: A favourite.
pos: noun
examples: Mary, the youngest daughter, was always her mother’s darling.
And tis a common obſervation in Familites, that the moſt diſcountenanc'd child oft makes better proof, then the dearling.
[…] John vvas the Darling, he had all the good Bits, vvas cramm'd vvith good Pullet, Chicken, Pig, Gooſe and Capon, vvhile Miſs had only a little Oatmeal and VVater, or a dry Cruſt vvithout Butter.
Exhausted fathers thinned the blood, / You curse the legacy of pain; / Darling of an infected brood, / You feel disaster climb the vein.
But Richmond, his grandfather's darling, after one thoughtful glance cast under his lashes at that uncompromising countenance, appeared to lose himself in his own reflections.
gloss: A favourite.
pos: noun
tags: broadly
examples: a media darling
a darling of the theatre
[…] Auguſtius Cæſar in his very entrance into affaires, vvhen he vvas a dearling of the Senate, yet in his haranges to the people, vvould ſvveare Ita parentis honores conſequi liceat, (vvhich vvas no leſſe then the Tyranny,) […]
The Generall of the Romanes in this action vvas Titus, ſonne to Veſpaſian the Emperour. A prince ſo good, that he vvas ſtyled the Darling of mankind for his ſvveet and loving nature; […]
Then the great knight, the darling of the court, / Loved of the loveliest, into that rude hall / Stept with all grace, […]
One of the darlings of the early vegetarian movement (particularly in its even sadder form, the cutlet), it was on the menu at John Harvey Kellogg's Battle Creek Sanitarium^([sic]), and has since become the default Sunday option for vegetarians – and a default source of derision for everyone else.
gloss: A favourite.
pos: noun
tags: obsolete
examples: 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.
She [Caroline of Ansbach] immediately became the darling of the Princeſs Sophia [Charlotte of Hanover], vvho vvas acknovvledged in all the Courts of Europe the moſt accompliſhed vvoman of the age in vvhich ſhe lived, and vvho vvas not a little pleaſed vvith the converſation of one in vvhom ſhe ſavv ſo lively an image of her ovvn youth.
gloss: Very dear; beloved, cherished, favourite.
pos: adj
examples: She is my darling wife of twenty-two years.
Do thou dred infant, Venus dearling doue, / From her high ſpirit chaſe imperious feare, / And vſe of avvfull Maieſtie remoue: […]
Rough vvindes do ſhake the darling buds of Maie, / And Sommers leaſe hath all too ſhort a date: […]
VVherefore, for the future, I am reſolved, to Acknovvledge my darling faults, though alone, yet aloud; […]
[H]is darling Sons / Hurl'd headlong to partake vvith us, ſhall curſe / Their frail Originals, and faded bliſs, / Faded ſo ſoon.
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.
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.
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.
[M]y dear sweet master, / My darling little Cyclops [Polyphemus], […]
A few enthusiasts on the other side were bent on pursuing, through endless civil troubles, their darling phantom of a republic.
My unchanged love is with my darling child, and I forgive her!
gloss: Very cute or lovable; adorable, charming, sweet.
pos: adj
examples: Well, isn’t that a darling little outfit she has on?
Isn't it the darlingest, sweetest, prettiest, little dear darling darling! Oh! did you ever!!
gloss: To call (someone) "darling" (noun sense 1).
pos: verb
tags: informal
transitive
examples: 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.
Hullo! oh! Maud, darling, I wanted to know— / Great snakes, it's not she!—I want Miss Maud DeVaux.— / I think that I "darlinged" the old man that time. / If I did, I'll sell cheap,—this lot marked down,—one dime.
Wonderful the way you stage people darling each other. To hear you sometimes, you'd think you were passionately in love.
All the Marys, Janes, Francoises and Mikis darlinged and honeyed me for a day or two then vanished for ever. After a few weeks I could not recall their names or faces.
He was darlinging his wife at every opportunity. They were going to have a silver wedding party. And, according to Geraldine, this was meant to be a dead marriage.
Derived words: darl
darlinghood
darlinglike
dilling
kill one's darlings
media darling
murder one's darlings
silver darling
darlingly
darlingness
Translations: