Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Wean
Wean
,Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Weaned
; p. pr. & vb. n.
Weaning
.] [OE. ]
wenen
, AS. wenian
, wennan
, to accustom; akin to D. wennen
, G. gewöhnen
, OHG. giwennan
, Icel. venja
, Sw. vänja
, Dan. vænne
, Icel. vanr
accustomed, wont; cf. AS. āwenian
to wean, G. entwöhnen
. See Wont
, Adj.
1.
To accustom and reconcile, as a child or other young animal, to a want or deprivation of mother’s milk; to take from the breast or udder; to cause to cease to depend on the mother nourishment.
And the child grew, and was
weaned
; and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned
. Gen. xxi. 8.
2.
Hence, to detach or alienate the affections of, from any object of desire; to reconcile to the want or loss of anything.
“Wean them from themselves.” Shak.
The troubles of age were intended . . . to
wean
us gradually from our fondness of life. Swift.
Wean
,Noun.
A weanling; a young child.
I, being but a yearling
wean
. Mrs. Browning.
Webster 1828 Edition
Wean
WEAN
,Verb.
T.
1.
To accustom and reconcile, as a child or other young animal, to a want or deprivation of the breast.And the child grew, and was weaned. Genesis 21.
2.
To detach or alienate, as the affections, from any object of desire; to reconcile to the want or loss of any thing; as, to wean the heart from temporal enjoyments.Definition 2024
wean
wean
English
Verb
wean (third-person singular simple present weans, present participle weaning, simple past and past participle weaned)
- (transitive) To cease giving milk to an offspring; to accustom and reconcile (a child or young animal) to a want or deprivation of mother's milk; to take from the breast or udder.
- The cow has weaned her calf.
- Bible, Genesis xxi. 8
- Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned.
- (intransitive) To cease to depend on the mother for nourishment.
- The kittens are finally weaning.
- (transitive, by extension) To cause to quit something to which one is addicted or habituated.
- He managed to wean himself off heroin.
- Jonathan Swift
- The troubles of age were intended […] to wean us gradually from our fondness of life.
- (intransitive, by extension) To cease to depend.
- She is weaning from her addiction to tobacco.
Translations
to cease giving milk
|
to cease to depend on the mother for nourishment
|
to cease to depend
|
|
Etymology 2
Noun
wean (plural weans)
- (Scotland) A small child.
- 2008, James Kelman, Kieron Smith, Boy, Penguin 2009, p. 92:
- Pigs, cows and sheep and wee ducks, that was what he bought and it was just for weans and wee lasses. I said it to my maw.
- Oh it is not weans it is children. Oh Kieron, it is children and girls, do not say weans and lasses.
- Elizabeth Browning
- I, being but a yearling wean.
- 2008, James Kelman, Kieron Smith, Boy, Penguin 2009, p. 92: