darling
Forms
- Plural
- darlings
- Comparative
- more darling
- Superlative
- most darling
- present (v1)
- darling
- past (v2)
- darlinged
- past participle (v3)
- darlinged
- present participle
- darlinging
- 3rd person singular
- darlings
Definitions
1.Often used as an affectionate term of address: a person who is very dear to one.
- Pass the wine, would you, darling?
- Yeah, intelligent input darling / Why don't you just have another beer then?
- "Whate'er you say, dearling." Despite her insults, Geirolf could see the love glowing in her face and he was encouraged.
2.A person who is kind, sweet, etc., and thus lovable; a pet, a sweetheart; also, an animal or thing which is cute and lovable.
- The girl next door picks up all my shopping for me. She is such a darling.
- What did they want, then, or in what manner did he fail in his duty towards those innocent darlings [his children]?
- When the Crocodile Queen came home, she found / That her eggs were broken and scattered around, / And that six young Princes, darlings all, / Were missing, for none of them answer'd her call.
3.A favourite.
- Mary, the youngest daughter, was always her mother’s darling.
- Exhausted fathers thinned the blood, / You curse the legacy of pain; / Darling of an infected brood, / You feel disaster climb the vein.
- 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.
1.Very dear; beloved, cherished, favourite.
- She is my darling wife of twenty-two years.
- My unchanged love is with my darling child, and I forgive her!
- A few enthusiasts on the other side were bent on pursuing, through endless civil troubles, their darling phantom of a republic.
2.Very cute or lovable; adorable, charming, sweet.
- Well, isn’t that a darling little outfit she has on?
- Isn't it the darlingest, sweetest, prettiest, little dear darling darling! Oh! did you ever!!
1.To call (someone) "darling" (noun sense 1).(informal)
- Wonderful the way you stage people darling each other. To hear you sometimes, you'd think you were passionately in love.
- He was darlinging his wife at every opportunity. They were going to have a silver wedding party. And, according to Geraldine, this was meant to be a dead marriage.
- All the Marys, Janes, Francoises and Mikis darlinged and honeyed me for a day or two then vanished for ever. After a few weeks I could not recall their names or faces.
Frequency
Overall
Rare· #4570
By learning goal
- Everyday conversation
- Rare
- General reading & writing
- Rare
- Academic
- Rare
- Literature
- Rare
Related words
Synonyms
Etymology
The noun is derived from Middle English dereling, derelyng (“beloved person; beloved of God, devout Christian”), from Old English dīerling, dēorling (“favourite, darling; minion”), from Proto-West Germanic *diuriling, from Proto-Germanic *diurijalingaz, from *diurijaz (“beloved, dear; expensive”) (further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ- (“hot, warm; to burn”), or *dweh₂- (“distant, long; to remove, separate”)) + *-ilingaz (suffix forming (diminutive) nouns with the sense of ‘belonging to; coming from’). By surface analysis, dear + -ling (suffix meaning ‘immature; small’).