Yearling

sb. and a. Forms: see YEAR; also 6 erlynge. [f. YEAR + -LING¹. Cf. early mod.Du. jaerlingh, G. jährling.]

  A.  sb. 1. An animal a year old, or in its second year (esp. a sheep, calf, or foal; also applied to certain birds and fishes; rarely to a child).

1465.  Mann. & Househ. Exp. (Roxb.), 554. .x. yerlynges.

1531.  Lincoln Dioc. Doc. (1914), 247. I bequeth to Jane Hay a yereling, that is to say, a cowe heifer.

1541.  in Leadam, Sel. Cases Crt. Requests (Selden Soc.), 53. One heyffer oone Erlynge & xj Shepe.

1577.  B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., I. (1586), 43 b. In the next [pasture] are my young breede, Yeerelinges, and Twoyeerelinges.

1607.  Markham, Cavel., I. (1617), 66. To seperate your horse-colts from your Mare Colts,… and your yearelings from your two yeares olde.

1847.  Stoddart, Angler’s Comp., 203. The parr of Tweed … descend to the sea in the shape of smolts, as yearlings.

1847.  Bewick’s Brit. Birds, I. 11, note. The female yearling is termed a red Falcon, the male a red Tiercel.

1877.  J. A. Allen, Amer. Bison, 463. The cows, on the other hand, as well as the yearlings and two-year-olds, are generally fattest in June.

1902.  Wister, Virginian, xi. Alfred … is a little more than a yearlin’, and of course he’ll snuffle.

  b.  transf. The fleece of a yearling sheep.

1888.  R. Beaumont, Woollen Manuf., i. 7. The second clip, which is somewhat thicker in fibre [than lambs’], and both longer and stronger in staple, is styled ‘yearlings.’

  2.  A plant a year old; spec. applied to hops of the previous year’s growth.

1849.  Florist, 247. Matthew’s Juno, large and full, lavender, purple-edge, noticed by us as a yearling last season.

1887.  Pall Mall Gaz., 6 Oct., 12/1. Messrs. Woolloton and Son state that ‘brewers hold exceptionally large stocks of yearlings.’

1902.  Times, 19 Sept., 2/5. Yearlings are in good request at 70s. to 100s.

  B.  adj. 1. Of an animal (rarely of a child): A year old; in its second year.

1528.  Paynell, Salerne’s Regim., Fj. The fleshe of … yerelynge wethers … is conuenient inoughe to eate.

1605.  Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. iii. III. Law, 585. Yearly, the Jews a Yearling Lamb must slay.

a. 1682.  Sir T. Browne, Tracts, i. (1683), 80. So many thousand male unblemished yearling lambs.

1719.  De Foe, Crusoe, I. (Globe), 246. I order’d Friday to take a yearling Goat.

1729.  Swift, Modest Proposal, 13. A well grown, fat Yearling Child.

1814.  Southey, Roderick, I. 244. Even like a yearling child, a fosterer’s care.

1859.  Sporting Mag., Oct., 240. The yearling filly by him [sc. Rataplan], out of Musjid’s dam.

1900.  Jrnl. Sch. Geog. (U.S.), April, 148. Kips—the skins of small or yearling cattle, exceeding the size of the calf skins.

  b.  Of plants or seeds, esp. of hops: Of the previous year’s growth.

1846.  J. Baxter, Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4), I. 246. Cuttings, or yearling plants, for hedge-planting.

1888.  Daily News, 13 Oct., 2/6. Yearling and old hops are at present quite neglected. Ibid. (1892), 11 Oct., 6/4. A good quantity of yearling red cloverseed has just changed hands.

  2.  Of a year’s standing; that has been such for a year.

1854.  Thackeray, Newcomes, i. As yearling brides provide lace caps, and work rich clothes, for the expected darling.