Definitions
American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
- n. A dearly beloved person.
- n. One that is greatly liked or preferred; a favorite: "the pride and vanity of the rich, the darlings of fate” ( Mario Puzo).
- adj. Dearly beloved.
- adj. Regarded with special favor; favorite: "Metaphysics and poetry . . . are my darling studies” ( Samuel Taylor Coleridge).
- adj. Informal Charming or amusing: a darling hat.
Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. One who is very dear; one much beloved; a special favorite.
- Very dear; peculiarly beloved; favorite; regarded with great affection and tenderness; lovingly cherished: as, a darling child.
Wiktionary
GNU Webster's 1913
- n. One dearly beloved; a favorite.
- adj. Dearly beloved; regarded with especial kindness and tenderness; favorite.
WordNet 3.0
- adj. dearly loved
- n. a special loved one
- n. an Australian river; tributary of the Murray River
Etymologies
- From Middle English derling, from Old English dēorling ("darling, favorite, minion", also "household god"), corresponding to dear + -ling. (Wiktionary)
- Middle English dereling, from Old English dēorling : dēore, dear + -ling, diminutive suff. (American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition)
Examples
“Oh, darling, _darling_ Miss Humf'ay, we _will_ be good if you'll stay!”
“England, six months ago, did not I hear him croon, if not certainly sing, 'Charlie is my darling' ( 'my _darling_' with an adoring emphasis), and then he stood back, as it were, from the song, to look at it better, and said 'How must that notion of ideal wondrous perfection have impressed itself in this old Jacobite's "young”
The Letters of Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Barrett, Vol. 1 (of 2) 1845-1846
““Hello,” Ellen said warmly, biting off the word darling before it could escape her lips.”
“Well it looks like CNN has grown tired of Meghan "Air-head" McCain and its new darling is the worthless dead-beat dad from Alaska.”
Johnston: Palin wanted to take the money, 'forget everything else'
“Palin, Palin, Palin .. now another WH non-darling is bashed.”
“To kick off the week, how about this darling from a public library professional collection?”
“And this darling, is why I feel so right in your company.”
“Your media darling is going to crap on our country, just wait and see.”
“Wow and the actually receive balanced reporting, not the McCain darling type reporting.”
“We can tell you that the Disney darling is maintaining her squeaky clean image – Demi Lovato is not a cutter and her rep explains the marks:”
Lists
These user-created lists contain the word ‘darling’.
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Interesting words
A list of words that are odd or words that I have looked up.
concupiscence, brize, scree, scoria, forestaff, spanaemia, valetudinarianism, distasture, pyrethrum, laudanum, gentian, bicameral and 11184 more...
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FUN - Beatles song titles
Typical words from Beatles song titles. Can you recreate the titles?
(Grammatical words have been omitted)another, three, place, work, eyes, new, said, give, face, day, going, like and 388 more...
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Words For Novel (Part 2)
fable, sprite, syphilitic, anvil, wonderstruck, vertigo, bridled, tufted, fettered, savvy, tweed fedora, tryst and 255 more...
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(LING)uistics
Words ending in 'ling'
youngling, fledgling, quisling, ridgeling, stripling, kitling, scatterling, earthling, foundling, hatchling, sapling, seedling and 7 more...
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Let Me Call You Sweetheart
Or honey, or baby, or ...
(A Valentine's Day list.)amoret, bonnilasse, ladybird, leikin, leman, love-lass, Phyllis, pout, sweetness, munchkin, darling, sayang and 87 more...
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Rare Tongues
Lesser-known languages with really cool names.
aruá, borôro, hixkaryána, macushi, ninam, bit, bo, tenharim, xetá, qawasqar, chru, côông and 51 more...
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♥
ambrosia, inamorata, gossamer, lily-white, hummingbird, roucoulement, poppy, daisy, calypso, lunula, lamb, dove and 1526 more...
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capitalcreative's Words
deviltry, visceral, cassanova, assuage, genesis, hot minute, osmosis, wistful, sublime, loathe, farfetched, newfangled and 283 more...
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some-ing
king, offering, blessing, coping, earnings, trappings, breeding, during, offing, refreshing, sitting, outing and 208 more...
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Twitter favourites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favourite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
bumwank, calamity, recalcitrant, gayenese, jeeze, nonsense, flabbergasted, juxtapose, procrastinating, ossanity, biffing, loser and 1972 more... -
Twitter favorites
The new favourite words of people on Twitter.
A script searches Twitter for "X is my new favorite word" and adds it to this list.
See also:
grabbable, retuiteando, leaving, fantastic, absolutely, kurwa, hella, ridic, underpass, hate, interlude, plush and 2369 more... -
Buttery
Words that make me feel cozy
Feather, Mug, Knit, Socks, Snug, Soft, Butter, Nugget, Noodle, Curl, Billow, Lounge and 315 more...
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Best words in Beatles songs
kaleidoscope, plasticine, porters, tangerine, marmalade, cellophane, turnstile, marshmallow, lingers, slither, restless, limitless and 91 more...
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How do you like Kipling?
Words which fit the joke format: "How do you like X-in(g)? I don't know, I've never X-ed".
kipling, duckling, fingerling, groundling, chickling, chitterling, changeling, gosling, yearling, hireling, inkling, quisling and 98 more...
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stpeter's Words
abase, abasement, abashed, abdicate, aberrant, abeyance, abhor, abhorrent, abide, abject, ablation, abnegation and 3536 more...
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Some Words I Love to Use
arcology, strumpet, crux, confected, pedant, bluestocking, cogitation, incensed, lovecraftian, cygnet, dactyl, adytum and 539 more...
Tweets
Looking for tweets for darling.
madmouth an Australian language also known as Kula Jun 15, 2009
bilby This is what the Thai lady who sells mangoes at the Sunday market calls me. Actually she calls everyone darling. But I know I'm special because this morning she said, "And here's an extra mango just for you, darling." Oct 12, 2008