Pl. children. Forms: Sing. 1 cild, 2– child; also 2 cyld, 2–6 chyld, (4 chilld), 4–6 chylde, 4–7, 9 (arch. in sense 5) childe, (5 schyld); see also CHIELD. Pl.: see below. [OE. cild neut.:—OTeut. type *kilþom (OE. -ld from OTeut. -lþ) from root *kilþ-, whence also Goth. kilþei womb, inkilþô pregnant woman. Not found elsewhere in the other WGer. langs. its place is taken by kind.
As the form of OHG., OS., OFris. kind is not satisfactorily explained from the root ken- (Aryan gen-) ‘beget, bear,’ and is, for LG. at least, quite irregular, Prof. Sievers suggests the possibility that kind is a perversion of cild, kilþ-, by assimilation to the derivatives of root ken-, which may have spread from OHG. to OS. and Fris.
The OE. plural was normally cild; but in late OE. the word was partly assimilated to the neuter -os stems, making nom. pl. cildru, -ra, and esp. gen. pl. cildra. Ælfric, Grammar 23, gives nom. cild, gen. cildra, dat. cildum; but he also has nom. cildru (e.g., Hom. II. 324). No r forms occur in the earlier Vesp. Psalter nor in Northumbrian. The latter had cild and cildo; and sometimes made the word masc. with pl. cildas. In ME. there are rare instances of chyld, childe as plural; but the surviving type was OE. cildru, cildra, which gave ME. childre, childer: this was the regular northern and north midland form, and is still used in the dialects as far south as Shropsh., Leicester, and Lincolnsh. But in the south this was made childer-en, childre-n by conformation to the -en plurals: cf. brethre, brether, brethren, plurals of BROTHER. This has become the standard and literary form. The Old Northumbrian cildas is paralleled by childes in 15th c., which is exceptional; but the Sc. differentiated word CHIELD has always chields in plural.]
A. Illustration of the plural forms.
† α. childe: 1 cildo, cild, 2 chyld, 4 childe.
c. 975. Rushw. Gosp., Matt. xix. 13. Þa brohte weron him cild.
c. 1000. Ags. G., Matt. xxi. 16. Of cilda and of sacerda muðe.
c. 1160. Hatton G., Matt. ii. 16. Ealle þa chyld þe on Bethleem wæron.
c. 1340. Cursor M. (Trin.). 11578. Þe childe þat were slayne.
β. childer: OE. cildru, cildra, 2–6 childre, (3 childere), 3– childer (still in dial.), 4 -ire, 4–5 -yre, 4–6 -ir, 5 childur, -yr, 5–6 chylder, -ur. Genit. OE. cildra, 2 chyldren (or ? dat.), 2–3 childrene, 2–7 childre, 4–7 childer, 5 chyldyr, 6 chillder, childers.
c. 975. Rushw. Gosp., Matt. xxi. 16. Of muðe cildra & sukendra.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Colloq., ad. init. We cildra biddaþ þe.
c. 1000. Thorpe’s Hom., II. 68 (Bosw.). Cildru.
c. 1160. Hatton Gosp., Matt. xxi. 16. Of chyldren, & of sacerda muðe.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 7. Þa weren monie childre dede. Ibid. Of milc drinkende childre muðe.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 422. Childrene scole.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 715. Fader, and breðere, and childre, and wif.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 2707. Childir thre. Ibid., 5549. Þar childer [Trin. MS. childre] liues.
1382. Wyclif, Ps. cxii[i]. 1. Preise, ȝee childer, the Lord.
1432–50. trans. Higden, I. xii. Techenge the childre.
1535. Coverdale, Esther ix. 28. Dayes … to be kepte of childers children.
1539. Tonstall, Serm. Palm Sund. (1823), 41. Besydes women and chylder.
1549. Compl. Scot. (1801), 13. His propir childir.
1578. Gude & Godlie Ballates (1868), 114. Thy childeris children thow sall se.
1605. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. iii. IV. 193. What childre-spell? what May-game have we here?
c. 1631. Turnament Totenham, 154, in Hazl., E. P. P., III. 89. It was no childer game.
1861. E. Waugh, Birtle Carter’s T., 31. We’re o’ God Almighty’s childer, mon.
1881. Leicestersh. Gloss. (E. D. S.), Childer, or Childern, var. of ‘children.’
γ. children: 3 childerne, -rene, 3–5 chyldryn, 4 childeren, -drin, 4–5 -dryn, 4–6 childern (still in dial.), chyldren, 5 childeryn, -dyrn, 6 chylderne, 2– children. Exc. in 3 childres. Genit. 4–5 chyldryn, 6 children, -ern, 4–7 childrens, 7– children’s.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 49. Feire children.
c. 1205. Lay., 12992. An of þissen children [1275 childrene]. Ibid., 5323. Childre swiðe hende [1275 children]. Ibid., 5414. Riche menne children.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 230. His leoue children.
1297. R. Glouc. (1724), 392. Of her chyldryn noȝt on.
c. 1300. Beket, 79. Ȝunge childerne.
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., B. 684. Chef chyldryn fader.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., VII. x. (1495), 229. The fallynge euyll also hyght childrens euyll.
c. 1430. Freemasonry, 8. For these chyldryn sake.
1483. Act 1 Rich. III., c. 2 § 1. Their childeryn unpreferred.
1548. Hall, Chron., an. 1533, 215. Two hundreth chyldren.
1552. Bk. Com. Prayer, Matrimony, Their chyldrens [1549 childers] children.
1556. Chron. Gr. Friars, 76. The men chylderne wyth the women chylderne.
1611. Bible, Matt. xv. 26. It is not meete to take the childrens bread [1750 children’s], and to cast it to dogs.
† δ. childs: OE. cildas, 5 childes.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., Matt. xix. 13. Lytlas cnæhtas vel cildas.
c. 1460. Towneley Myst., 152. Where so many childes Thare balys cannot bete.
† ε. childres. rare.
c. 1275. Lay., 5465. Alle hire childres.
B. Signification.
I. With reference to state or age.
1. The unborn or newly born human being; fœtus, infant. App. originally always used in relation to the mother as the ‘fruit of the womb.’
When the application was subsequently extended, the primitive sense was often expressed by babe, baby, infant; but ‘child’ is still the proper term, and retained in phrases, as ‘with child,’ ‘to have a child,’ ‘child-birth,’ the verb to child, etc.
c. 950. Lindisf. Gosp., Luke i. 44. Se cild in innað minum.
c. 1000. Ags. G., ibid. Min cild . on minum innoþe [c. 1160 Hatton G., Min chyld]. Ibid., Luke ii. 16. Þæt cild on binne aled.
c. 1160. Hatton G., ibid. Þæt chyld on binne aleiʓd.
c. 1200. Ormin, 6944. Wiþþ þe childess moderr.
1382. Wyclif, Luke i. 40. The ȝonge child [16th c. versions babe] in hir wombe gladide. Ibid., ii. 16. A ȝong child put in a cracche [16th c. vv. babe layde in a manger].
a. 1440. Sir Degrev., 1892. Sevene chyldur she hym bare.
1460. Capgrave, Chron., 208. In the same ȝere the qween had child at Gaunt.
c. 1475. Pictorial Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 751. Hec matrix, a schyn that a schyld ys consevyd in.
1611. Bible, Lev. xii. 5. If she beare a maid child, then she shalbe vncleane two weekes.
1652. Culpepper, Eng. Physic., 35. It expelleth the dead childe and the after-birth.
1788. J. Powell, Devises (1827), II. 325. A child en ventre … is considered as a child in esse, and is entitled under all the circumstances, in which a child then born would be entitled.
1876. Green, Short Hist., ix. § 9. The last living child of the Princess Anne.
b. spec. A female infant, a girl-baby. dial.
1611. Shaks., Wint. T., III. iii. 71. A very pretty barne: A boy, or a Childe I wonder?
1775. Ash, Child, an infant—a son or daughter … a female infant.
c. 1780. Hole, MS. Gloss. Devonsh. (cited by Halliw.), Child, a female infant.
1876. N. & Q., 22 April. A country woman [in Shropshire] said to me, apropos of a baby, ‘Is it a lad or a child?’
1888. Elworthy, W. Som. Word-bk., 126. Chiel … 2 A female infant. ‘Well, what is it theeäs time, a chiel or a bwoy?’
2. A young person of either sex below the age of puberty; a boy or girl.
A gradual extension of sense 1.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., II. 222. Him hylpð … þæt him fæt cild ætslape.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom. (1867), 7. Þa children ploȝeden in þere strete.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 422. Ancre ne schal nout … turnen hire ancre hus to childrene scole.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Prioress’s T., 49. To synge and to rede, As smale childer doon.
a. 1547. Surrey, Æneid, II. 300. Children and maides that holly carolles sang.
1671. Milton, P. R., I. 201. When I was yet a child, no childish play To me was pleasing.
1747. Berkeley, Tar-water in Plague, Wks. III. 484. Two children, a boy and a girl.
1804. Wordsw., Poems on Childh., i. The child is father of the man.
1835. Ure, Philos. Manuf., 303. A desire to lessen the labour of young children.
b. In the Bible, as rendering Heb. [Hebrew] ‘child,’ ‘bairn,’ extended to youths approaching or entering upon manhood.
1382. Wyclif, Gen. xxxvii. 30. Ruben turned aȝen to the sisterne, fonde not the child [i.e., Joseph æt. 17]. Ibid., Dan. i. 17. God ȝaue to these children science and discipline. Ibid. (1611). As for these foure children, God gaue them knowledge, and skil in all learning and wisedome. Ibid., Apocrypha (title), The Song of the three holy children, which followeth in the third Chapter of Daniel after this place.
Mod. (Canticle) Benedicite or the Song of the Three Children.
3. transf. One who has (or is considered to have) the character, manners or attainments of a child; esp. a person of immature experience or judgment; a childish person. (See also 20.)
c. 1250. Moral Ode, in E. E. P. (1862), 22. Wel lange ic habbe child iben a worde & ec a dede.
1382. Wyclif, 1 Cor. xiv. 20. Britheren, nyle ȝe be maad children in wittis.
1526. Tyndale, ibid. Brethren be not chyldren in witte.
1534. Ld. Berners, Gold. Bk. M. Aurel., xiv. He was a childe amonge children.
1678. Dryden, All for Love, IV. i. Men are but children of a larger growth.
1847. Tennyson, Princess, II. 44. Your language proves you still the child.
1857. Buckle, Civiliz., I. ix. 576. The French, always treated as children, are, in political matters, children still.
b. In contemptuous or affectionate address.
1590. Shaks., Mids. N., III. ii. 409. Come recreant, come thou childe, Ile whip thee with a rod.
1850. Tennyson, In Mem., VI. vii. Poor child, that waitest for thy love! Ibid., LXIX. iv. They called me fool, they call’d me child.
4. Formerly applied to all pupils at school, esp. to those at charity schools.
a. 1200. Charter of Eadwine, in Cod. Dipl., IV. 260. Ic Eadwine munek, cildremeistre on Niwan munstre.
c. 1340. Hampole, Pr. Consc., 5881. Maysters som tyme uses þe wand Þat has childer to lere under þair hand.
1518. Colet, Stat. St. Pauls, in Lupton, Life of Colet, 276. All the Children in the scole knelyng in theyr Settes.
1556. Chron. Gr. Friars (1852), 76. Alle the men chylderne wyth the women chylderne … that perteynyd unto the howse of the powre [Christ’s Hospital].
1706. Hearne, Collect. (1886), I. 216. [They] were all poor Children, Taberders and afterwards Fellows of Queen’s College.
1720. Strype (St. Paul’s Sch.) in Stow’s Surv., I. xxv. If any Child admitted here, go to any other School to learn there, such Child for no Man’s Suit be again received into the School.
1810. Minute-bk. of Mill Hill Sch., Regul. for Dom. Superint. … His attention shall be directed to the Morals and Conduct of the Boys … before and after School hours. He shall not suffer the children to pass beyond the Bounds prescribed, [etc.].
b. spec. A singing boy or chorister. Still retained at the Chapel Royal, St. James’s.
1510–1. Northumbld. Househ. Bk., 40. Gentyllmen and Childryn of the Chapell. Ibid., 44. Childer of the Chapell—vj.
1534. in Glasscock, Rec. St. Michael’s, Bp. Stortford (1882), 41. New surplecs for the childern.
1567. Turberv., Epit., etc. 77 b (title), An Epitaph vpon … Maister Richarde Edwardes late Maister of the Children in the Queenes Maiesties Chappell.
1584. Lyly (title), Campaspe, Played beefore the Queenes Maiestie … by her Maiesties Children, and the Children of Paules.
a. 1717. Cheque Bk. Chapel Royal, 28. Dr. William Croft (as Master of the Children).
1887. Daily Tel., 8 April, 5/7. Mr. C. S. Jekyll, organist and composer to her Majesty’s Chapel Royal, and musical instructor of the children.
† 5. A youth of gentle birth: used in ballads, and the like, as a kind of title. arch. When used by modern writers, commonly archaically spelt chylde or childe, for distinction’s sake.
The precise force with which cild was used in OE. is not certain: Mr. Freeman (Norm. Conq., I. v. 374, note) merely concludes that ‘it is clear that it was a title of dignity.’ In 13th and 14th c. ‘child’ appears to have been applied to a young noble awaiting knighthood: e.g., in the romances of Ipomydon, Sir Tryamour, Torrent of Portugal, etc.
1016–20. Charter of Godwine, in Cod. Dipl., IV. 10. Godwines Wulfeaʓes sunu, and Ælfsiʓe cild, and Eadmer at Burham.
c. 1314. Guy Warw. (A.), 6032. Ac a child yong man aplight … Berard was his right nam, Alle on he folwed Sir Gii.
c. 1350. Will. Palerne, 1822. Oþer cherl oþer child.
1387. Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), VII. 123. To whom he ordeyned child Gilbert to be tutour.
c. 1430. Syr Tryam., 741. And Tryamowre rode hym ageyne, Thogh he were mekylle man of mayne, The chylde broght hym downe!
c. 1440. York Myst., xxx. 143. Be he churle or childe.
c. 1525. Douglas, Æneis, VI. v. 55 (Camb. MS.). Anchises get! heynd childe [v.r. heynd, kynd], curtes and gude.
1533. Bellenden, Livy, II. (1822), 124. Than was in Rome ane nobill childe … namit Caius Mucius.
1596. Spenser, F. Q., VI. viii. 15. The noble Childe, preventing his desire … smote him on the knee. Ibid., VI. ii. 36. Chyld Tristram prayd that he with him might goe.
1605. Shaks., Lear, III. iv. 187. Childe Rowland to the darke Tower came.
a. 1700[?]. Child Waters, i. in Percy, Reliq., III. ix. Childe Waters in his stable stoode.
a. 1700[?]. Child of Ell, ii. in Child, Ballads, I. vii. 103/2. Till he haue slaine the Child of Ell.
1765. Percy, Reliq. (1823), III. 315. Child is frequently used by our old writers, as a title. It is repeatedly given to Prince Arthur in the Faerie Queen.
1812. Byron (title), Childe Harold’s Pilgrimage. Ibid., I. iii. Childe Harold was he hight. Ibid., I. iv. Worse than adversity the Childe befell.
a. 1839. Praed, Poems (1864), I. 267. The pious Childe began to sing.
† 6. A lad or ‘boy’ in service; a page, attendant, etc. Cf. also child-woman in 22. Obs.
1382. Wyclif, Acts iv. 25. By the mouth of oure fadir Dauith, thi child.
c. 1460. J. Russell, Bk. Nurture, in Babees Bk. (1868), 191.
1478. Will, in Verney Papers (1853), 28. I bequethe to John Jakke, child of my kichen, xs.
c. 1488. Liber Niger Edw. IV., in Househ. Ord. (1790), 39. No man shall drawe in any office in this courte any chylde or servaunt, but he be come of clene byrthe.
1535. Coverdale, 1 Sam. ix. 10. Saul sayde vnto his childe: Thou hast well spoken.
1555. Will, in Maddison, Lincolnsh. Wills (1888), 46. To Henry Scott ‘sometyme my childe iijs. iiijd.’
1610. Househ. Prince Hen., in Househ. Ord. (1790), 336. Noe childe, page, scowrer, or turnebroach, to marry.
† 7. Used familiarly or contemptuously for ‘lad’; ‘fellow,’ ‘chap,’ ‘man.’ Obs.; but cf. Sc. CHIELD.
1551. Robinson, trans. More’s Utop. (Arb.), 128. The false and malicious circumuentions of craftie children.
1561. Awdeley, Frat. Vacab., 6. A Curtesy man … This child can behaue him selfe manerly.
1638. Earl Strafforde, 28 July, Lett. & Disp. (1739), II. 187. They [the Scots] are shrewd Children, not won much by Courtship, especially from a Roman Catholick.
b. In U.S., esp. among negroes, ‘this child’ is used jocularly in speaking of oneself.
1852. Mrs. Stowe, Uncle Tom’s C., I. vi. 73. Be careful of the horses, Sam;… don’t ride them too fast.… ‘Let dis child alone for dat!’ said Sam.
1849. Ruxton, Life in Far West, xiii. (Bartlett). This child has felt like going West for many a month, being half froze for buffler meat and mountain doins.
II. As correlative to parent.
8. The offspring, male or female, of human parents; a son or daughter. This in OE. was expressed by bearn, BAIRN.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom. (1867), 49. Riche men … þe habbeð … feire wifes . and feire children.
c. 1200. Charter of Brihtmær (dated 1053), in Cod. Dipl., IV. 133. Efter his childrene daʓe.
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 715. Fader, and breðere, and childre, and wif.
c. 1385. Chaucer, L. G. W., 901, Tisbe. Ye wrecched jelouse faders oure, We that weren whylome children youre, We prayen yow, [etc.].
a. 1400. Cov. Myst. (1841), 81. So mylde So xulde childyr to fadyr and modyr.
1526. Tindale, Col. iii. 20. Children [Wyclif sones] obey youre fathers and mothers in all thinges.
1535. Coverdale, Esther ix. 28. Not to be forgotten, but to be kepte of childers children.
1549. Compl. Scot., Prol. 9. Ane ordinance til excerse his propir childir.
1602. Shaks., Ham., IV. v. 148. Now you speake Like a good Childe, and a true Gentleman.
1841–4. Emerson, Ess. Self-Reliance, Wks. (Bohn), I. 28. Is the parent better than the child into whom he has cast his ripened being?
1843. Macaulay, Mad. D’Arblay, Ess. (1885), 702/1. Well known as … the father of two remarkable children.
b. It has been pointed out that child or my child is by parents used more frequently (and longer) of, and to, a girl than a boy. Shakespeare nowhere uses ‘my child’ of or to a son, but frequently of or to a daughter.
This is possibly connected with the use in 1 b; but is perhaps more due to the facts that girl has a wider range of application than boy, and that a daughter is more dependent on parental protection.
1599. Shaks., Much Ado, IV. i. 77. I charge thee doe, as thou art my childe. Ibid. (1605), Lear, IV. vii. 70. I thinke this Lady To be my childe Cordelia. Ibid. (1610), Temp., V. i. 198. That I Must aske my childe forgiuenesse.
c. The young of an animal. (rare.)
1590. Spenser, F. Q., I. vi. 27. A Lyonesse, did lowd require Her children deare.
1697. Dryden, Virg. Georg., IV. 742. Her Children gone, The Mother Nightingale laments.
9. pl. In Biblical and derived uses: Descendants; members of the tribe or clan.
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., B. 684. He [Abraham] is chosen to be chef chyldryn fader.
1382. Wyclif, Ex. iii. 14. Thus thow shalt seye to the children of Israel.
1432–50. trans. Higden (Rolls), I. 121. Canaan is a region of Syria, possessede firste of the childre of Canaan.
1611. Bible, Judg. iv. 6. Take with thee ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., II. 127. A Helot feeling, compounded of awe and hatred, is but too often discernible in the children of the vanquished.
10. Theol. Child of God: i.e., by creation, or by regeneration and adoption.
c. 1200. Trin. Coll. Hom., 19. Þeih alle men ben godes children . for þat he hem alle shop; and ches hem to sunes and to dohtres.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 230. Hwon God ȝifð him leaue on his leoue children.
c. 1340. Richard Rolle of Hampole, Prick of Conscience, 6148. Commes now til me, My fadir blissed childer fre.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 8. The chrysten man, as the welbeloued chylde of god.
1549. Eng. Ch. Catechism (1852), In my baptism, wherein I was made a member of Christ, the child of God.
a. 1656. Bp. Hall, Rem. Wks. (1660), 144. Which way should I become the child of God?
1845–6. Trench, Huls. Lect., Ser. I. iv. 63. Marvellously does He thus run oftentimes the lives of his children parallel with the life of the Church at large.
1850. Robertson, Serm., I. iv. (1878), 54. Man is God’s child, and the sin of the man consists in perpetually living as if it were false.
11. Applied (chiefly in pl.) to disciples of a teacher and those in a similar relation. (Chiefly Biblical.)
c. 1325. E. E. Allit. P., B. 1300. Þe … prophetes childer.
138[?]. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 374. Freris … maken dissencioun bitwix curatis and hor gostly childer.
1526. Tindale, 1 John ii. 1. My lytell children, these thynges write I vnto you, that ye synne not.
1535. Coverdale, 2 Kings ix. 1. Eliseus the prophet called one of the prophetes children.
1568. Bible (Bishops’), John xxi. 5. Children, haue ye any meate?
1853. Maurice, Proph. & Kings, ix. 139. The phrase ‘children of the prophets’ … indicates men who were taught by a prophet.
12. fig. One of the spiritual or moral progeny of a person; one who inherits his spirit and hands down the tradition of his influence.
138[?]. Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 351. Þei ben cayms childire. Ibid., Sel. Wks., III. 386. Freris also ben Scarioths childre.
1535. Coverdale, Acts xiii. 10. O thou childe of the deuell … and enemye of all righteousnes.
1888. Daily News, 7 Sept., 5/2. The children of Izaak Walton have multiplied beyond all reckoning in the last twenty years, and river fishing has been falling off.
13. fig. Expressing origin, extraction, dependence, attachment, or natural relation to a place, time, event, circumstance of birth, ruling or characteristic quality. Orig. a Hebraism of Scripture transl.; e.g., children of the East, of the world, of the kingdom; of light, of darkness, of the day, of wrath, of disobedience, of sin, of murder, of death; of wisdom, of folly, of truth, of fancy; of nature, of fashion, of the age, of the time, of the century; of adultery, of shame; of tears, of sorrow, of prayers, etc., etc.
1340. Ayenb., 101. Child of yre and of helle.
1388. Wyclif, John xii. 36. That ȝe be the children of liȝt [1382 sones].
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 180. We all be borne the chylder of ire, as saynt Paule sayth.
1526. Tindale, 1 Thess. v. 5. Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the daye.
1535. Coverdale, 2 Kings vi. 32. This childe of murthure. Ibid., 1 Sam. xx. 31. He is a childe of death.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., I. i. 171. This childe of fancie that Armado hight. Ibid. (1596), 1 Hen. IV., III. ii. 139. This same Child of Honor and Renowne. Ibid. (1606), Ant. & Cl., II. vii. 106. Be a Child o’ th’ time.
1611. Bible, Judg. vi. 3. The children of the East. Ibid., Luke vii. 35. Wisdome is justified of all her children. Ibid., Col. iii. 6. The wrath of God commeth on the children of disobedience.
1632. Milton, L’Allegro, 133. Sweetest Shakspeare, Fancy’s Child. Ibid. (1641), Ch. Govt., II. iii. (1851), 174. The … voice of truth and all her children.
c. 1800. Wordsw., To a Young Lady, i. Dear child of nature.
1876. Green, Short Hist., vii. § 3. Elizabeth … was a child of the Italian Renascence.
1885. F. Harrison, Choice Bks. (1886), 193. Thomas Carlyle … is in spirit a child of the great Revolution.
14. fig. That which originates from, or is produced by, something else; the ‘offspring’ of.
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., I. iv. 97. Dreames: Which are the children of an idle braine. Ibid. (1605), Macb., IV. iii. 115. This Noble passion Childe of integrity.
1628. Feltham, Resolves, II. xxxviii. 117. When Mischiefe is the childe of Mirthe.
1847. Tennyson, Princess, III. 197. Baser courses, children of despair. Ibid., IV. 401. A hope, The child of regal compact.
† III. 15. Child-bearing. Obs. [? elliptical, or f. the vb.]
a. 1300. Cursor M., 11204. Sco was at hir time o child.
c. 1325. Pope Gregory, in Leg. Cath. (1840), 12. The thridde day of hir childe To chirche sche ȝede.
1480. Robt. Devyll, 8. If prayers had not been … she had deyed of chylde.
IV. Phrases and Proverbs.
16. From († of) a child or children († of a child little): from childhood.
1526. Tindale, Mark ix. 21. How longe is it agoo, sens this hath happened him? And he sayde, of a chylde.
1535. Coverdale, Prov. xxix. 21. He that delicately bryngeth vp his seruaunt from a childe.
1611. Bible, 2 Tim. iii. 15. From a childe thou hast knowen the holy Scriptures.
1656. Trapp, Comm. Eph. vi. 11. Coriolanus had so used his weapons of a child little.
1761. Frances Sheridan, Sidney Bidulph (ed. 2), I. 8. It was our continual practice from children to keep little journals of what daily happened to us.
17. With child: a. lit. Pregnant. Hence To get (beget obs.) with child; to go with child.
c. 1175. Cott. Hom. (Morris), 227. Hi … wurð mid cylde.
c. 1205. Lay., 265. Þeo wimon was mid childe [c. 1275 Þe mayde was wid childe].
c. 1250. Gen. & Ex., 974. Agar … wimman wið childe.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 2605. Agar was made wit child.
a. 1310. in Wright, Lyric P. (Mätz.). What sorewe hit is with childe gon.
1340. Ayenb., 224. Þe elifans nele naȝt wonye mid his wyue þerhuyle þet hi is mid childe.
1480. Caxton, Chron. Eng., ccxlviii. 317. She sayd that she was with child.
1597. Shaks., 2 Hen. IV., V. iv. 10. If the childe I now go with, do miscarrie. Ibid. (1603), Meas. for M., I. ii. 74. For getting Madam Iulietta with childe.
1611. Bible, Matt. i. 18. Shee was found with childe of [Coverdale by] the holy Ghost.
1651. Jer. Taylor, Holy Living, iv. (1727), 327. Women great with child.
1864. Tennyson, Enoch Arden, 518. Such doubts and fears were common to her state, Being with child.
† b. transf. of ground, trees, ships with swelling sails. Obs.
c. 1420. Pallad. on Husb., I. 70. With ryshes, reede, graas … also goo it [good land] with childe.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb., II. (1586), 105. In the Spring, all Trees are as it were with child.
1606. Chapman, Marlowe’s Hero & L., III. All her fleet of spirits came swelling in, With child of Sail.
† c. fig. (a.) Full (of a thing) so as to be ready to burst with it; teeming, pregnant; = BIG a. 5; (b.) Eager, longing, yearning (to do a thing). Obs.
1548. Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. Luke xxiii. 8. The man had of long tyme been with chylde to haue a sight of Iesus.
1590. Spenser, F. Q., I. v. 1. The noble hart that … is with childe of glorious great intent.
1594. Carew, Tasso (1881), 116. Their countnance mery and their eyes with child Of ioy.
1660. Pepys, Diary, 14 May. I sent my boy, who, like myself, is with child to see any strange thing. Ibid., 9 Oct. I went to my Lord, and saw … his picture … and am with child till I get it copied out.
1725. Bailey, Erasm. Colloq., 264. I’m with child to hear it.
18. Child’s play († child’s game, † childer game, † childer spell): a. lit. play befitting a child, childish sport; b. fig. a piece of work easily accomplished, trivial matter, trifle.
c. 1325. in Rel. Ant., I. 292. It is but childes game.
c. 1386. Chaucer, Merch. T., 286. It is no childes pley To take a wyf with-outen auysement.
14[?]. Prose Leg., in Anglia, VIII. 128. Childer pleye.
1548. Luther’s Art Faith, Pref. A v. Forgette all children playes.
1605. Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. iii. IV. 193. What childre-spell? What May-game have we here?
c. 1631. Turn. Totenham, 154. It was no childer game when thei to geder mete.
1839. Carlyle, Chartism, vi. 144. The … craftsman finds it no child’s play.
† 19. Child’s part (also in pl. childer-parts): child’s portion or share of inheritance. Obs.
1509. Test. Ebor. (Surtees), V. 10. I wit to the seid Lannslot a kist … and his hole childe parte without enny trouble.
1547. Richmond. Wills (1853), 64. Vij li. overe and besydes theire childreparts.
1607. Tourneur, Rev. Trag., II. i. 39. That has no other childe’s-part but her honor.
1640. Sanderson, Serm., II. 141. Every mothers child … hath a childs-part of those troubles.
20. In proverbs and proverbial phrases, as The burnt child dreads the fire (BURNT 3 b); the child unborn, as type of innocence or ignorance, etc.
c. 1400. Rom. Rose, 1820. Brent child of fier hath mych drede.
1539. Taverner, Erasm. Prov. (1552), 62. Oure common prouerbe … Children, drunkers, and fooles, can not lye.
1547. Dk. Norfolk, in Lingard, Hist. Eng. (1855), V. iii. 103/1. Nor can [I] no more judge … what should be laid to my charge, than the child that was born this night.
1549. Latimer, Serm. bef. Edw. VI. (Arb.), 56. As the Prouerb is. Senex bis puer. An olde manne, twyse a chyld.
1562. J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 69. Many kisse the childe for the nurses sake.
1765. Sterne, Tr. Shandy, VIII. xxviii. She knows no more … of it … than the child unborn.
V. Combinations.
21. General combs. a. appositive, as child-angel, -girl, -heroine, -king, -man, -mother, -noble, -prince, -saint, -sweetheart, -virgin, etc.; b. attributive, as child-cheek, -kind, -labo(u)r, -life, -literature, -nature, -sacrifice, -smile, -spirit, -suffering, -world, etc.; c. objective: (a.) direct, as child-eater, -eating adj., -killer, -killing, -lover, -loving adj., -murder, -murderer, -stealer, etc.; (b.) indirect, as child-bereft adj.; d. similative, as child-simple adj., etc., etc.
1853. Lytton, My Novel, III. iii. 119 (Hoppe). Ah! that is the fair creature whom Leonard called his *child-angel?
18[?]. Mrs. Browning, Lost Bower, lxii. The *child-cheek blushing scarlet.
1826. Scott, Woodst., II. viii. 214. I was captain in Lunsford’s light-horse…. I was a *child-eater, sir—a babe-bolter.
1845. J. H. Newman, Developm. Chr. Doctr., 219 (L.). The calumnies of *child-eating and impurity in the Christian meetings.
1593. Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., II. ii. 112. That Clifford, that cruell *Child-killer.
1828. Q. Rev., XXXVII. 402. What would mankind, or womankind, or *childkind think.
1601. Holland, Camden’s Brit., I. 232. England felt all miseries which happen under a *Child-King.
1878. N. Amer. Rev., CXXVII. 448. To secure … the limitation of *child-labor at wages.
1884. C. Monkhouse, in Mag. Art, Feb., 135/1. They are scarcely painters of *child-life or child-character. Ibid., 133/2. The *child-literature of the last generation.
1840. Carlyle, Heroes (1858), 190. The first Pagan Thinker … was precisely this *child-man of Plato’s.
1869. Freeman, Old Eng. Hist. for Children, 272. That there should be some one in his College able to teach … he made the *‘Childmaster’ be one of the chief among the Canons. [cf. 4.]
1755. Burn, Justice of Peace, Children & Infants (L.). The offence of *child-murder.
1865. Sat. Rev., Aug., 162. The professional *child-murderer.
1874. Carpenter, Ment. Phys., I. viii. Teacher Ignorant of the fundamental facts of *child-nature.
1860. Pusey, Min. Proph., 3. Baal and Ashtaroth, with all their abominations of consecrated *child-sacrifices.
1610. Holland, Camden’s Brit., I. 396. S. Rumald … was canonized … for a *child-Saint.
1850. Mrs. Browning, Poems, II. 310. *Child-simple, undefiled, Frank, obedient. Ibid., II. 216. To erase the *child-smile from her lips.
1883. H. Drummond, Nat. Law in Spir. W. (ed. 2), 271. The condition of entrance into the spiritual kingdom is to possess the *child-spirit.
1866. Howells, Venet. Life, iv. 61. Titian’s *child-virgin.
1856. Whittier, Brew. Soma, viii. As in that *child-world’s early year.
22. Special combs.: † child-age, childhood; child-bird, (see quot.); child-bishop = boy-bishop (see BOY sb.1 7); child-changed a., ? changed into a child, or ? changed by the conduct of his children; child-crowing, the disease Laryngismus stridulus or spasmodic croup; child-farming = baby-farming (see BABY 2); † child-geared a., having childish manners; † child-great a., big with child, pregnant; † child-ill (Sc.), the pains of child-bearing, labor; child-land, the (ideal) realm of childhood; child-queller, one who kills children (obs.); humorously, one who deals severely with children; child-ridden a., overridden with children; † child-rider, (cf. sense 6); child-rites sb. pl., the rites connected with the baptism of children; childward a., directed towards children (rare); child-woman, † a girl, maid(-servant); a woman who is still a child. See also CHILD-BEARING, -BED, -BIRTH, -WIFE, -WITE.
1548. Udall, etc. Erasm. Par. John, Pref. 4 a. In your very *chyldage there appered in you a certayne … meruelous towardenes.
1638. T. Whitaker, Blood of Grape, 43. Child-age, which from the birth is extended to the foureteenth or fifteenth year.
1745. Ovalle’s Relation Chile, xix. (Churchill, Voy., III.) [A] bird called the *Child-bird, because it looks like a swaddled child with its arms at liberty…. Perhaps they are the same, called Penguins.
1720. Strype, Stow’s Surv. (1754), I. I. xxv. 186/1. The Children every *Childermas day to go to Paul’s Church and hear the *Child-Bishop Sermon.
1605. Shaks., Lear, IV. vii. 17. This *childe-changed Father.
1861. T. Graham, Pract. Med., 191. The *child-crowing, though merely a spasmodic disease, is not … free from danger.
1872. Forster, Dickens (1874), III. 257. A *child-farming that deserved the gallows.
c. 1340. Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 86. He watz so ioly of his ioyfnes & sumquat *child-gered.
1605. Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. iii. I. 98. A *Child-great Woman.
1375. Barbour, Bruce, XVI. 274. It is the layndar … That her *chyld-ill rycht now hes tane.
c. 1500. Cocke Lorell’s B. (1843), 11. Mortherers, Crakers, facers, and *chylderne quellers.
1848. Dickens, Dombey, viii. The castle of this ogress and child-queller was in a steep by-street.
1870. Miss Broughton, Red as Rose, I. 254. The Felton curate’s fat, *childridden wife.
1679–88. Secr. Serv. Money Chas. & Jas. (1851), p. vi. Footmen 24…. Childryders 4…. Falconers 12.
1616. Chapman, Homer’s Hymns, 26. Every feeble chaine of earthy *childrights flew in sunder all.
1823. Lamb, Elia (Hoppe). An Anabaptist minister conforming to the child-rites of the Church.
1847. Tennyson, Princess, VII. 267. She [must gain] mental breadth, nor fail in *childward care.
1382. Wyclif, Judith xiii. 4. Judit seide to hir *child womman [1388 damesele]. Ibid., Esther iv. 4. The childer wymmen of Ester.
1862. Lytton, Str. Story, 247. The childwoman in the childworld.
