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Webster 1913 Edition

Changeling

Change′ling

,
Noun.
[
Change
+
-ling
.]
1.
One who, or that which, is left or taken in the place of another, as a child exchanged by fairies.
Such, men do
changelings
call, so changed by fairies’ theft.
Spenser.
The
changeling
[a substituted writing] never known.
Shakespeare
2.
A simpleton; an idiot.
Macaulay.
Changelings
and fools of heaven, and thence shut out.
Wildly we roam in discontent about.
Dryden.
3.
One apt to change; a waverer.
“Fickle changelings.”
Shak.

Change′ling

,
Adj.
1.
Taken or left in place of another; changed.
“A little changeling boy.”
Shak.
2.
Given to change; inconstant.
[Obs.]
Some are so studiously
changeling
.
Boyle.

Webster 1828 Edition

Changeling

CHANGELING

,
Noun.
1.
A child left or taken in the place of another.
2.
An idiot; a fool.
3.
One apt to change; a waverer.
4.
Any thing changed and put in the place of another.

Definition 2025

changeling

changeling

English

Noun

changeling ‎(plural changelings)

  1. (mythology) In British, Irish and Scandinavian mythology, an infant of a fairy, sprite or troll that the creature has secretly exchanged for a human infant.
    • 1961, Muriel Saint Clare Byrne, Elizabethan Life in Town and Country, page 285:
      His nurse had told him all about changelings, and how the little people would always try to steal a beautiful human child out of its cradle and put in its stead one of their own ailing, puking brats […]
  2. (informal, rare) An infant secretly exchanged with another infant; swapling.
  3. (science fiction and fantasy) An organism which can change shape to mimic others.
  4. (obsolete) A simpleton; an idiot.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Macaulay to this entry?)
    • Dryden
      Changelings and fools of heaven, and thence shut out.
  5. (obsolete) One apt to change; a waverer.
    • Shakespeare
      Fickle changelings.

Synonyms

  • (fairy's child): oaf (obsolete)
  • (being that can change shape): shape-shifter
  • (a child exchanged for another): swapling

Translations

Etymology

From change +‎ -ling.

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