Sc. and north. dial. [f. next + -NESS.] Childishness.
1838. Blackw. Mag., XLIII. 270. Driven to the bairnliness of supping peas with a spoon.
1863. Grosart, Small Sins, Pref. 9. Laborious ingenuity or childishness (note, perhaps our vernacular ‘bairnliness’ better expresses the thing).
