darling

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   Often used as an affectionate term of address

   Often used as an affectionate term of address: a person who is very dear to one.

   • Pass the wine, would you, darling?
   • [I]t is better to be / An old mans derling than a yong mans werling.
   • Feare ye not (ô darling) on thy ſide deſtinie runneth.
2. 2

   A person who is kind, sweet, etc., and thus lovable

   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.
   • 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.
   • What did they want, then, or in what manner did he fail in his duty towards those innocent darlings [his children]?
3. 3

   A favourite.

   • Politics were never more corrupt and brutal; and Trade, that pride and darling of our ocean, that educator of nations, that benefactor in spite of itself, ends in shameful defaulting, bubble, and bankruptcy, all over the world.
4. ›+ 8 more definitionsshow fewer

   1. 4

      Very dear

      Very dear; beloved, cherished, favourite.

      • She is my darling wife of twenty-two years.
      • Do thou dred infant, Venus dearling doue, / From her high ſpirit chaſe imperious feare, / And vſe of avvfull Maieſtie remoue: […]
      • Rough vvindes do ſhake the darling buds of Maie, / And Sommers leaſe hath all too ſhort a date: […]
   2. 5

      Very cute or lovable

      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!!
   3. 6

      To call (someone) "darling" (noun sense 1).

      • Hullo! oh! Maud, darling, I wanted to know— / Great snakes, it's not she!—I want Miss Maud DeVaux.— / I think that I "darlinged" the old man that time. / If I did, I'll sell cheap,—this lot marked down,—one dime.
      • Wonderful the way you stage people darling each other. To hear you sometimes, you'd think you were passionately in love.
   4. 7

      An English and Scottish surname transferred from the nickname, originally a nickname from…

      An English and Scottish surname transferred from the nickname, originally a nickname from darling.

      • 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 […]
   5. 8

      A major river of Queensland and New South Wales, Australia, named for Governor Ralph…

      A major river of Queensland and New South Wales, Australia, named for Governor Ralph Darling.

   6. 9

      The Australian aboriginal language Baagandji, spoken along this river in New South Wales.

   7. 10

      A small town in the Western Cape province, South Africa.

   8. 11

      A census-designated place in Quitman County, Mississippi, United States.

The neighborhood