[f. CLERK + -LING, dim. suffix.] A young or petty clerk.
1862. S. Lucas, Secularia, 90–1. It [Bristol] had not … like Oxford, its large aggregation of clerklings.
1880. Browning, Dram. Idyls, II. Clive, 142. ‘Now my clerkling’ chuckled Cocky with a grin … ‘repeat That expression.’
