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Webster 1913 Edition


darling

dar′ling

,
Noun.
[OE.
derling
,
deorling
, AS.
deórling
;
deóre
dear +
-ling
. See
Dear
, and
-ling
.]
One dearly beloved; a favorite.
And can do naught but wail her
darling’s
loss.
Shakespeare

dar′ling

,
Adj.
Dearly beloved; regarded with especial kindness and tenderness; favorite.
“Some darling science.”
I. Watts.
Darling sin.”
Macaulay.

Webster 1828 Edition


Darling

D'ARLING

,
Adj.
Dearly beloved; favorite; regarded with great kindness and tenderness; as a darling child; a darling science.

D'ARLING

,
Noun.
One much beloved; a favorite; as, that son was the darling of his father.

Definition 2024


Darling

Darling

See also: darling

English

The Darling River, near Bourke

Proper noun

Darling

  1. An English and Scottish surname, originally a nickname from darling.
    • 2005, Michael Dowling, Jürgen Schmude, Dodo zu Knyphausen-Aufsess, Advances in Interdisciplinary European Entrepreneurship Research
      Richard and David Darling, founders of Codemasters, a multimillion-pound computer game company, dropped out of school aged 15 and 16 to write computer games []
  2. A major river of Queensland and New South Wales, Australia, named for Governor Ralph Darling.
  3. The Australian aboriginal language Baagandji, spoken along this river in New South Wales.

See also

  • Wiktionary's coverage of Baagandji terms

External links

Anagrams

darling

darling

See also: Darling

English

Alternative forms

Noun

darling (plural darlings)

  1. A person who is dear to one.
    • 1959, Georgette Heyer, chapter 1, in The Unknown Ajax:
      But Richmond, his grandfather's darling, after one thoughtful glance cast under his lashes at that uncompromising countenance appeared to lose himself in his own reflections.
    • 2011 December 15, Felicity Cloake, How to cook the perfect nut roast”, in Guardian:
      If there's such a thing as pariah food – a recipe shunned by mainstream menus, mocked to near extinction and consigned to niche hinterlands for evermore – then the nut roast, a dish whose very name has become a watchword for sawdusty disappointment, is surely a strong contender. One of the darlings of the early vegetarian movement (particularly in its even sadder form, the cutlet), it was on the menu at John Harvey Kellogg's Battle Creek Sanitarium [sic], and has since become the default Sunday option for vegetarians – and a default source of derision for everyone else.
  2. (by extension) A person who is very popular with a certain group.
    a media darling
    a darling of the theatre

Synonyms

Derived terms

Translations

Adjective

darling (comparative darlinger, superlative darlingest)

  1. Dear; cherished.
    She is my darling wife of twenty-two years.
  2. charming
    Well isn't that a darling little outfit she has on.

Translations

Usage notes

darlinger is rarely used.

Anagrams