darling

adj

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’). The adjective is from an attributive use of the noun. The verb is also derived from the noun.

1. 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: […]”

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!!”

name

1. 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 […]”

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.
4. A small town in the Western Cape province, South Africa.
5. A census-designated place in Quitman County, Mississippi, United States.

noun

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’). The adjective is from an attributive use of the noun. The verb is also derived from the noun.

1. 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.”

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.”

   “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.

   “And in ſo muche the more peril and haſard of the ſaid diſeaſes [“ambicion, auarice, riottous exceſſe, hatred, enuye, and ſuche others”] do the princes ſtand, as they are more then others made wantons ⁊ derelynges of fortune, and haue lybertie withoute checke or controllemente to fulfyll their owne ſenſuall luſtes and appetites.”

   “[T]hat handkercher / Did an Egyptian to my mother giue, / […] ſhe told her vvhile ſhe kept it, / Tvvould make her amiable, and ſubdue my father / Intirely to her loue: […] [T]ake heed on't, / Make it [the handkerchief] a darling, like your pretious eye, / To looſe, or giue avvay, vvere ſuch perdition, / As nothing elſe could match.”

4. A favourite.

   “Mary, the youngest daughter, was always her mother’s darling.”

   “And tis a common obſervation in Familites, that the moſt diſcountenanc'd child oft makes better proof, then the dearling.”

5. A favourite.

   “a media darling”

   “a darling of the theatre”

6. A favourite.

   “When kyng Henry perceiued, that the cõmons [commons] wer thus ſtomacked and bent, againſt the Quenes [Margaret of Anjou's] dearlynge William [de la Pole,] Duke of Suffolke, he plainly ſawe, that neither gloſyng woulde ſette, nor diſſimulacion coulde appeace, the continuall clamor of the importunate cõmons: Wherefore to begyn a ſhorte pacificacion in to long a broyle.”

   “She [Caroline of Ansbach] immediately became the darling of the Princeſs Sophia [Charlotte of Hanover], vvho vvas acknovvledged in all the Courts of Europe the moſt accompliſhed vvoman of the age in vvhich ſhe lived, and vvho vvas not a little pleaſed vvith the converſation of one in vvhom ſhe ſavv ſo lively an image of her ovvn youth.”

verb

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’). The adjective is from an attributive use of the noun. The verb is also derived from the noun.

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

   “The frisky female, we have noticed, has one most unpleasant trick; it is that of darlinging and duckeying and otherwise spooneying her husband … in public. He is invariably, invariably set down as an ass, without its being in the least his fault.”

   “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.”