English

Alternative forms

• cradle-robber

Noun

cradle robber ‎(plural cradle robbers)

1. (idiomatic, pejorative) A person who marries or becomes romantically involved with someone who is much younger or who employs or otherwise engages a young person for a purpose inappropriate for his or her age.
   • 1914, Richard Harding Davis, "The Man Who Could Not Lose":

     "And no mother," he shouted, "can call ME a ‘fortune-hunter’ and a ‘cradle-robber’ and think I'll make good by marrying her daughter!"

   • 2006, Francine Maroukian, "Modern Love: We Lived in the Present, Then the Future Arrived," New York Times, 29 Oct.:

     I was a 50-year-old woman; he was a 25-year-old man. . . . I was out of my pajamas and into a short skirt before you could say “cradle robber”.

Synonyms

• cradle snatcher

Hyponyms

• cougar (North America, slang)
• manther (North America, slang)
• korephile

Related terms

• rob the cradle