CHANGELING • E-FREE TRANSLATION.COM • Definition of Changeling

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noun

Changeling n.

One who, or that which, is left or taken in the place of another, as a child exchanged by fairies. "Such, men do changelings call, so changed by fairies' theft." "The changeling (a substituted writing) never known."

A simpleton; an idiot. "Changelings and fools of heaven, and thence shut out." "Wildly we roam in discontent about."

One apt to change; a waverer. "Fickle changelings."

adjective

Changeling adj.

Taken or left in place of another; changed. "A little changeling boy."

Given to change; inconstant. (Obs.) "Some are so studiously changeling."

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Etymology of 'Changeling'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Changeling" Quotes from Famous Books

... of the Y.M.C.A. that club could never have come into existence. And the association deserves credit not only for generosity in material things, but for its liberal spirit. The club was not run according to Y.M.C.A. rules, and was an embarrassing changeling child in their nursery, just as it was a suspicious innovation under ...

— A Padre in France • George A. Birmingham

... he taught her, and their names, And how the chartless mariner they guide; Of quivering light that in the zenith flames, Of monsters in the deep sea caves that hide; Then changed the theme to fairy records wild, Enchanted moor, elf dame, or changeling child. ...

— Poems by Jean Ingelow, In Two Volumes, Volume II. • Jean Ingelow

... silly honest Fool did you mistake me for? what senseless modest thing? Death, am I grown so despicable? have I deserv'd no better from thy Love than to be taken for a virtuous Changeling? ...

— The Works of Aphra Behn, Vol. I (of 6) • Aphra Behn

... hard to count that white man a teacher who tortured an ambitious Indian youth by frequently reminding the brave changeling that he was ...

— American Indian stories • Zitkala-Sa

... believed, at one time, in Wales, that the Fairies exchanged their own weakly or deformed offspring for the strong children of mortals. The child supposed to have been left by the Fairies in the cradle, or elsewhere, was commonly called a changeling. This faith was not confined to Wales; it was as common in Ireland, Scotland, and England, as it was in Wales. Thus, in Spenser's Faery Queen, reference is made in the following words to this ...

— Welsh Folk-Lore - a Collection of the Folk-Tales and Legends of North Wales • Elias Owen

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