Definitions
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Same as
hilding .
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun obsolete A worthless, base, degenerate person or animal.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
worthless ,degenerate person or animal.
Etymologies
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
From Middle English hinderling ("a laggard, coward"), from Old English hinderling ("a mean wretch, a sneak"), equivalent to hinder + -ling. Compare hilding.
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Examples
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Insensibly he lessened the dip and reach of his oars; at last, as the thousands on the Therapian shore would have had it, the Gypsy racer was the hinderling of the pack.
The Prince of India — Volume 02 Lewis Wallace 1866
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II. i.26 (388,3) [hilding] The word hildlng or hinderling -- a low wretch; it is applied to Catharine for the coarseness of her behaviour.
Notes to Shakespeare — Volume 01: Comedies Samuel Johnson 1746
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_] _Hilding_, or _hinderling_, is a _low wretch_.] [Footnote IV. 15: _Yon island carrion, _] This description of the
King Henry the Fifth Arranged for Representation at the Princess's Theatre William Shakespeare 1590
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