Posted by John Nichols on June 10, 2006 at 22:27:20 from 165.91.196.227 user Mcneacail.
In Reply to: Swallowdale - Dixon-speak posted by PeterH on June 04, 2006 at 09:06:33:
FROM THE OED:
A. Illustration of the plural forms.
() childe: 1 cildo, cild, 2 chyld, 4 childe.
c975 Rushw. Gosp. Matt. xix. 13 a brohte weron him cild. c1000 Ags. G. Matt. xxi. 16 Of cilda and of sacerda mue. c1160 Hatton G. Matt. ii. 16 Ealle a chyld e on Bethleem wæron. c1340 Cursor M. (Trin.) 11578 e childe at were slayne.
() childer: OE. cildru, cildra, 2-6 childre, (3 childere), 3- childer (still in dial.) 4 -ire, 4-5 -yre, 4-6 -ir, 5 childur, -yr, 5-6 chylder, -ur. Genit. OE. cildra, 2 chyldren (or ? dat.), 2-3 childrene, 2-7 childre, 4-7 childer, 5 chyldyr, 6 chillder, childers.
c975 Rushw. Gosp. Matt. xxi. 16 Of mue cildra & sukendra. c1000 ÆLFRIC Colloq. ad. init., We cildra bidda e. c1000 THORPE Hom. II. 608 (Bosw.) Cildru. c1160 Hatton Gosp. Matt. xxi. 16 Of chyldren, & of sacerda mue. c1175 Lamb. Hom. 7 a weren monie childre dede. Ibid., Of milc drinkende childre mue. a1225 Ancr. R. 422 Childrene scole. c1250 Gen. & Ex. 715 Fader, and breere, and childre, and wif. a1300 Cursor M. 2707 Childir thre. Ibid. 5549 ar childer [Trin. MS. childre] liues. 1382 WYCLIF Ps. cxii[i]. 1 Preise, ee childer, the Lord. 1432-50 tr. Higden I. xii, Techenge the childre. 1535 COVERDALE Esther ix. 28 Dayes..to be kepte of childers children. 1539 TONSTALL Serm. Palm Sund. (1823) 41 Besydes women and chylder. 1549 Compl. Scot. (1801) 13 His propir childir. 1578 Gude & Godlie Ballates (1868) 114 Thy childeris children thow sall se. 1605 SYLVESTER Du Bartas II. iii. IV. 193 What childre-spell? what May-game have we here? c1631 Turnament Totenham 154 in Hazl. E.P.P. III. 89 It was no childer game. 1861 E. WAUGH Birtle Carter's T. 31 We're o' God Almighty's childer, mon. 1881 Leicestersh. Gloss. (E.D.S.) Childer, or Childern, var. of ‘children’.
() children: 3 childerne, -rene, 3-5 chyldryn, 4 childeren, -drin, 4-5 -dryn, 4-6 childern (still in dial.), chyldren, 5 childeryn, -dyrn, 6 chylderne, 2- children. Exc. in 3 childres. Genit. 4-5 chyldryn, 6 children, -ern, 4-7 childrens, 7- children's.
c1175 Lamb. Hom. 49 Feire children. c1205 LAY. 12992 An of issen children [1275 childrene]. Ibid. 5323 Childre swie hende [1275 children]. Ibid. 5414 Riche menne children. a1225 Ancr. R. 230 His leoue children. 1297 R. GLOUC. (1724) 392 Of her chyldryn not on. c1300 Beket 79 unge childerne. c1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 684 Chef chyldryn fader. 1398 TREVISA Barth. De P.R. VII. x. (1495) 229 The fallynge euyll also hyght childrens euyll. c1430 Freemasonry 8 For these chyldryn sake. 1483 Act I Rich. III, c. 2 §1 Their childeryn unpreferred. 1548 HALL Chron. an. 1533. 215 Two hundreth chyldren. 1552 Bk. Com. Prayer, Matrimony, Their chyldrens [1549 childers] children. 1556 Chron. Gr. Friars 76 The men chylderne wyth the women chylderne. 1611 BIBLE Matt. xv. 26 The childrens bread [1750 children's].
() childs: OE. cildas, 5 childes.
c950 Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. xix. 13 Lytlas cnæhtas vel cildas. c1460 Towneley Myst. 152 Where so many childes Thare balys cannot bete.
() childres. rare.
1275 LAY. 5465 Alle hire childres.
B. Signification. I. With reference to state or age.
1. a. The unborn or newly born human being; ftus, infant. App. originally always used in relation to the mother as the ‘fruit of the womb’.
When the application was subsequently extended, the primitive sense was often expressed by babe, baby, infant; but ‘child’ is still the proper term, and retained in phrases, as ‘with child’, ‘to have a child’, ‘child-birth’, the verb to child, etc.
c950 Lindisf. Gosp. Luke i. 44 Se cild in inna minum. c1000 Ags. G. ibid., Min cild . on minum innoe [c1160 Hatton G., Min chyld]. Ibid. Luke ii. 16 æt cild on binne aled. c1160 Hatton G. ibid., æt chyld on binne aleid. c1200 ORMIN 6944 Wi e childess moderr. 1382 WYCLIF Luke i. 40 The onge child [16th c. versions babe] in hir wombe gladide. Ibid. ii. 16 A ong child put in a cracche [16th c. vv. babe layde in a manger]. a1440 Sir Degrev. 1892 Sevene chyldur she hym bare. 1460 J. CAPGRAVE Chron. 208 In the same ere the qween had child at Gaunt. c1475 Pictorial Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 751 Hec matrix, a schyn that a schyld ys consevyd in. 1611 BIBLE Lev. xii. 5 If she beare a maid child. 1652 CULPEPPER Eng. Physic. 35 It expelleth the dead childe and the after-birth. 1788 J. POWELL Devises (1827) II. 325 A child en ventre..is considered as a child in esse, and is entitled under all the circumstances, in which a child then born would be entitled. 1876 GREEN Short Hist. ix. §9 The last living child of the Princess Anne.
b. spec. A female infant, a girl-baby. dial.
1611 SHAKES. Wint. T. III. iii. 71 A very pretty barne: A boy, or a Childe I wonder? 1775 ASH, Child, an infanta son or daughter..a female infant. c1780 HOLE MS. Gloss. Devonsh. (cited by Halliw.) Child, a female infant. 1876 N. & Q. 22 Apr., A country woman [in Shropshire] said to me, apropos of a baby, ‘Is it a lad or a child?’ 1888 ELWORTHY W. Som. Word-bk. 126 Chiel..2 A female infant. ‘Well, what is it theeäs time, a chiel or a bwoy?’
2. a. A young person of either sex below the age of puberty; a boy or girl.
A gradual extension of sense 1.
c1000 Sax. Leechd. II. 222 Him hylp..æt him fæt cild ætslape. c1175 Lamb. Hom. (1867) 7 a children ploeden in ere strete. a1225 Ancr. R. 422 Ancre ne schal nout..turnen hire ancre hus to childrene scole. c1386 CHAUCER Prioress' T. 49 To synge and to rede, As smale childer doon. a1547 SURREY Æneid II. 300 Children and maides that holly carolles sang. 1671 MILTON P.R. I. 201 When I was yet a child, no childish play To me was pleasing. 1747 BERKELEY Tar-water in Plague Wks. III. 484 Two children, a boy and a girl. 1804 WORDSW. Poems on Childh. i, The child is father of the man. 1835 URE Philos. Manuf. 303 A desire to lessen the labour of young children.
b. In the Bible, as rendering Heb. yeled ‘child’, ‘bairn’, extended to youths approaching or entering upon manhood.
1382 WYCLIF Gen. xxxvii. 30 Ruben turned aen to the sisterne, fonde not the child [i.e. Joseph æt. 17]. Dan. i. 17 God aue to these children science and discipline. 1611 Ibid. As for these foure children, God gaue them knowledge and skil. Apocrypha (title) The Song of the three holy children, which followeth in the third chapter of Daniel. Mod. (Canticle) Benedicite or the Song of the Three Children.
3. a. transf. One who has (or is considered to have) the character, manners, or attainments of a child; esp. a person of immature experience or judgement; a childish person. (See also 20.)
c1250 Moral Ode in E.E.P. (1862) 22 Wel lange ic habbe child iben a worde & ec a dede. 1382 WYCLIF 1 Cor. xiv. 20 Britheren, nyle e be maad children in wittis. 1526 TYNDALE ibid., Brethren be not chyldren in witte. 1534 LD. BERNERS Gold. Bk. M. Aurel. xiv, He was a childe amonge children. 1678 DRYDEN All for Love IV. i, Men are but children of a larger growth. 1847 TENNYSON Princess II. 44 Your language proves you still the child. 1857 BUCKLE Civilis. I. ix. 576 The French, always treated as children, are, in political matters, children still.
b. In contemptuous or affectionate address.
1590 SHAKES. Mids. N. III. ii. 409 Come recreant, come thou childe, Ile whip thee with a rod. 1850 TENNYSON In Mem. VI. vii, Poor child, that waitest for thy love! Ibid. LXIX. iv, They called me fool, they call'd me child.
4. a. Formerly applied to all pupils at school, esp. to those at charity schools.
a1200 Charter of Eadwine in Cod. Dipl. IV. 260 Ic Eadwine munek, cildremeistre on Niwan munstre. c1340 HAMPOLE Pr. Consc. 5881 Maysters som tyme uses e wand at has childer to lere under air hand. 1518 COLET Stat. St. Pauls in Lupton Life of Colet 276 All the Children in the scole knelyng in theyr Settes. 1556 Chron. Gr. Friars (1852) 76 Alle the men chylderne wyth the women chylderne..that perteynyd unto the howse of the powre [Christ's Hospital]. 1706 HEARNE Collect. (1886) I. 216 [They] were all poor Children, Taberders and afterwards Fellows of Queen's College. 1720 STRYPE (St. Paul's Sch.) in Stow's Surv. I. xxv, If any Child admitted here, go to any other School to learn there, such Child for no Man's Suit be again received into the School. 1810 Minute-bk. of Mill Hill Sch., Regul. for Dom. Superint... His attention shall be directed to the Morals and Conduct of the Boys..before and after School hours. He shall not suffer the children to pass beyond the Bounds prescribed, etc.
b. spec. A singing boy or chorister. Still retained at the Chapel Royal, St. James's.
1510-11 Northumbld. Househ. Bk. 40 Gentyllmen and Childryn of the Chapell. Ibid. 44 Childer of the Chapellvj. 1534 in Glasscock Rec. St. Michael's, Bp. Stortford (1882) 41 New surplecs for the childern. 1566 TURBERV. Poems (title) Epitaph on Maister Edwards, sometime Maister of the Children of the Chappell. 1584 LYLY (title) Campaspe, played before the Queenes Maiestie..by her Maiesties Children..and the Children of Paules. a1717 Cheque Bk. Chapel Royal 28 Dr. William Croft (as Master of the Children). 1887 Daily Tel. 8 Apr., Mr. C. S. Jekyll, organist and composer to her Majesty's Chapel Royal, and musical instructor of the children.
5. A youth of gentle birth: used in ballads, and the like, as a kind of title. arch. When used by modern writers, commonly archaically spelt chylde or childe, for distinction's sake.
The precise force with which cild was used in OE. is not certain: Mr. Freeman (Norm. Conq. I. v. 374 note) merely concludes that ‘it is clear that it was a title of dignity’. In 13th and 14th c. ‘child’ appears to have been applied to a young noble awaiting knighthood: e.g. in the romances of Ipomydon, Sir Tryamour, Torrent of Portugal, etc.
1016-20 Charter of Godwine in Cod. Dipl. IV. 10 Godwines Wulfeaes sunu, and Ælfsie cild, and Eadmer æt Burham. c1314 Guy Warw. (A.) 6032 Ac a child yong man aplight..Berard was his right nam, Alle on he folwed Sir Gii. c1350 Will. Palerne 1822 Oer cherl oer child. 1387 TREVISA Higden (Rolls) VII. 123 To whom he ordeyned child Gilbert to be tutour. c1430 Syr Tryam. 741 And Tryamowre rode hym ageyne, Thogh he were mekylle man of mayne, The chylde broght hym downe! c1440 York Myst. xxx. 143 Be he churle or childe. c1525 DOUGLAS Æneis VI. v. 55 (Camb. MS.) Anchises get! heynd childe [v.r. heynd, kynd], curtes and gude. 1533 BELLENDEN Livy II. (1822) 124 Than was in Rome ane nobill childe..namit Caius Mucius. 1596 SPENSER F.Q. VI. viii. 15 The noble Childe, preventing his desire..smote him on the knee. Ibid. VI. ii. 36 Chyld Tristram prayd that he with him might goe. 1605 SHAKES. Lear III. iv. 187 Childe Rowland to the darke Tower came. ?a1700 Child Waters i. in Percy Reliq. III. ix, Childe Waters in his stable stoode. ?a1700 Child of Ell ii. in Child Ballads I. vii. 103/2 Till he haue slaine the Child of Ell. 1765 PERCY Reliq. (1823) III. 315 Child is frequently used by our old writers, as a title. It is repeatedly given to Prince Arthur in the Faerie Queen. 1812 BYRON (title), Childe Harold. Ibid. I. iii, Childe Harold was he hight. Ibid. I. iv, Worse than adversity the Childe befel. a1839 PRAED Poems (1864) I. 267 The pious Childe began to sing.
6. A lad or ‘boy’ in service; a page, attendant, etc. Cf. also child-woman in 22. Obs.
1382 WYCLIF Acts iv. 25 By the mouth of oure fadir Dauith, thi child. c1460 J. RUSSELL Bk. Nurture in Babees Bk. (1868) 191. 1478 Will in Verney Papers (1853) 28, I bequethe to John Jakke, child of my kichen, xs. c1488 Liber Niger Edw. IV in Househ. Ord. (1790) 39 No man shall drawe in any office in this courte any chylde or servaunt, but he be come of clene byrthe. 1535 COVERDALE 1 Sam. ix. 10 Saul sayde vnto his childe: Thou hast well spoken. 1555 Will in Maddison Lincolnsh. Wills (1888) 46 To Henry Scott ‘sometyme my childe iijs. iiijd.’ 1610 Househ. Prince Hen. in Househ. Ord. (1790) 336 Noe childe, page, scowrer, or turnebroach, to marry.
7. a. Used familiarly or contemptuously for ‘lad’; ‘fellow’, ‘chap’, ‘man.’ Obs.; but cf. Sc. CHIELD.
1551 ROBINSON tr. More's Utop. (Arb.) 128 The false and malicious circumuentions of craftie children. 1561 J. AWDELAY Frat. Vacab. 6 A Curtesy man..This child can behaue him selfe manerly. 1638 STRAFFORDE Lett. 28 July, They [the Scots] are shrewd Children, not won much by Courtship.
b. In U.S., esp. among Blacks, ‘this child’ is used jocularly in speaking of oneself.
1850 MRS. STOWE Uncle Tom's C. vii, ‘Be careful for the horses, Sam..don't ride them too fast’..‘Let dis child alone for dat,’ said Sam. 1851 G. F. RUXTON Far West (Bartlett) This child has felt like going West for many a month.
II. As correlative to parent.
8. a. The offspring, male or female, of human parents; a son or daughter. This in OE. was expressed by bearn, BAIRN.
c1175 Lamb. Hom. (1867) 49 Riche men..e habbe..feire wifes . and feire children. c1200 Charter of Brihtmær (dated 1053) in Cod. Dipl. IV. 133 Efter his childrene dae. c1250 Gen. & Ex. 715 Fader, and breere, and childre, and wif. c1385 CHAUCER L.G.W. 901 Tisbe, Ye wrecched jelouse faders oure, We that weren whylome children youre, We prayen yow, etc. a1400 Cov. Myst. (1841) 81 So mylde So xulde childyr to fadyr and modyr. 1526 TINDALE Col. iii. 20 Children [WYCLIF sones] obey youre fathers and mothers in all thinges. 1535 COVERDALE Esther ix. 28 Not to be forgotten, but to be kepte of childers children. 1549 Compl. Scot. 9 Ane ordinance til excerse his propir childir. 1602 SHAKES. Ham. IV. v. 148 Now you speake Like a good Childe, and a true Gentleman. 1841-4 EMERSON Ess. Self-Reliance Wks. (Bohn) I. 28 Is the parent better than the child into whom he has cast his ripened being? 1843 MACAULAY Mad. D'Arblay, Ess. (1885) 702/1 Well known as..the father of two remarkable children.
b. It has been pointed out that child or my child is by parents used more frequently (and longer) of, and to, a girl than a boy. Shakespeare nowhere uses ‘my child’ of or to a son, but frequently of or to a daughter.
This is possibly connected with the use in 1b; but is perhaps more due to the facts that girl has a wider range of application than boy, and that a daughter is more dependent on parental protection.
1599 SHAKES. Much Ado IV. i. 77, I charge thee doe, as thou art my childe. 1605 Lear IV. vii. 70, I thinke this Lady To be my childe Cordelia. 1610 Temp. V. i. 198 That I Must aske my childe forgiuenesse.
c. The young of an animal. (rare.)
1590 SPENSER F.Q. I. vi. 27 A Lyonesse, did lowd require Her children deare. 1697 DRYDEN Virg. Georg. IV. 742 Her Children gone, The Mother Nightingale laments.
9. pl. In Biblical and derived uses: Descendants; members of the tribe or clan.
c1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 684 He [Abraham] is chosen to be chef chyldryn fader. 1382 WYCLIF Ex. iii. 14 Thus thow shalt seye to the children of Israel. 1432-50 tr. Higden (Rolls) I. 121 Canaan is a region of Syria, possessede firste of the childre of Canaan. 1611 BIBLE Judg. iv. 6 Ten thousand men of the children of Naphtali. 1848 MACAULAY Hist. Eng. II. 127 A Helot feeling, compounded of awe and hatred, is..discernible in the children of the vanquished.
10. Theol. Child of God: i.e. by creation, or by regeneration and adoption.
c1200 Trin. Coll. Hom. 19 eih alle men ben godes children . for at he hem alle shop: and ches hem to sunes and to dohtres. a1225 Ancr. R. 230 Hwon God if him leaue on his leoue children. 1340 HAMPOLE Pr. Consc. 6148 Commes now til me, My fadir blissed childer fre. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 8 The chrysten man, as the welbeloued chylde of god. 1549 Eng. Ch. Catechism (1852) In my baptism, wherein I was made a member of Christ, the child of God. a1656 BP. HALL Rem. Wks. (1660) 144 Which way should I become the child of God? 1846 TRENCH Huls. Lect. iv, Marvellously does He thus run oftentimes the lives of his children parallel with the life of the Church at large. 1850 ROBERTSON Serm. I. iv. (1878) 54 Man is God's child, and the sin of the man consists in perpetually living as if it were false.
11. Applied (chiefly in pl.) to disciples of a teacher and those in a similar relation. (Chiefly Biblical.)
c1325 E.E. Allit. P. B. 1300 e..prophetes childer. 138. WYCLIF Sel. Wks. III. 374 Freris..maken dissencioun bitwix curatis and hor gostly childer. 1526 TINDALE 1 John ii. 1 My lytell children, these thynges write I vnto you, that ye synne not. 1535 COVERDALE 2 Kings ix. 1 Eliseus the prophet called one of the prophetes children. 1568 BIBLE (Bishops') John xxi. 5 Children, haue ye any meate? 1853 MAURICE Proph. & Kings ix. 139 The phrase ‘children of the prophets’..indicates men who were taught by a prophet.
12. fig. One of the spiritual or moral progeny of a person; one who inherits his spirit and hands down the tradition of his influence.
138. WYCLIF Wks. (1880) 351 ei ben cayms childire. Sel. Wks. III. 386 Freris also ben Scarioths childre. 1535 COVERDALE Acts xiii. 10 O thou childe of the deuell..and enemye of all righteousnes. 1888 Daily News 7 Sept. 5/2 The children of Izaak Walton have multiplied beyond all reckoning..and river fishing has been falling off.
13. fig. Expressing origin, extraction, dependence, attachment, or natural relation to a place, time, event, circumstance of birth, ruling or characteristic quality. Orig. a Hebraism of Scripture transl.; e.g. children of the East, of the world, of the kingdom; of light, of darkness, of the day, of wrath, of disobedience, of sin, of murder, of death; of wisdom, of folly, of truth, of fancy; of nature, of fashion, of the age, of the time, of the century; of adultery, of shame; of tears, of sorrow, of prayers, etc., etc.
1340 Ayenb. 101 Child of yre and of helle. 1388 WYCLIF John xii. 36 That e be the children of lit [1382 sones]. 1526 Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W. 1531) 180 We all be borne the chylder of ire, as saynt Paule sayth. 1526 TINDALE 1 Thess. v. 5 Ye are all the children of light, and the children of the daye. 1535 COVERDALE 2 Kings vi. 32 This childe of murthure. 1 Sam. xx. 31 He is a childe of death. 1588 SHAKES. L.L.L. I. i. 171 This childe of fancie that Armado hight. 1596 1 Hen. IV, III. ii. 139 This same Child of Honor and Renowne. 1606 Ant. & Cl. II. vii. 106 Be a Child o' th' time. 1611 BIBLE Judg. vi. 3 The children of the East. Luke vii. 35 Wisdom is justified of all her children. Col. iii. 6 The children of disobedience. 1632 MILTON L'Allegro 133 Sweetest Shakspeare, Fancy's Child. 1641 Ch. Govt. II. iii. (1851) 174 The..voice of truth and all her children. c1800 WORDSW. To a Young Lady i, Dear child of nature. 1876 GREEN Short Hist. vii. §3 Elizabeth.. was a child of the Italian Renascence. 1885 F. HARRISON Choice Bks. (1886) 193 Thomas Carlyle..is in spirit a child of the great Revolution.
14. fig. That which originates from, or is produced by, something else; the ‘offspring’ of.
1592 SHAKES. Rom. & Jul. I. iv. 97 Dreames: Which are the children of an idle braine. 1605 Macb. IV. iii. 115 This Noble passion Childe of integrity. 1628 FELTHAM Resolves II. xxxviii. 117 When Mischiefe is the childe of Mirthe. 1847 TENNYSON Princ. III. 197 Baser courses, children of despair. Ibid. IV. 401 A hope, The child of regal compact.
III. 15. Child-bearing. Obs. [? elliptical, or f. the vb.]
a1300 Cursor M. 11204 Sco was at hir time o child. c1325 Pope Gregory in Leg. Cath. (1840) 12 The thridde day of hir childe To chirche sche ede. 1480 Robt. Devyll 8 If prayers had not been..she had deyed of chylde.
IV. Phrases and Proverbs.
16. from (of) a child or children (of a child little): from childhood.
1526 TINDALE Mark ix. 21 How longe is it agoo, sens this hath happened him? And he sayde, of a chylde. 1535 COVERDALE Prov. xxix. 21 He that delicately bryngeth vp his seruaunt from a childe. 1611 BIBLE 2 Tim. iii. 15 From a childe thou hast knowen the holy Scriptures. 1656 TRAPP Comm. Eph. vi. 11 Coriolanus had so used his weapons of a child little. 1761 F. SHERIDAN S. Bidulph I. 8 It was our continual practice, from children, to keep little journals.
17. with child: a. lit. Pregnant. Hence to get (beget obs.) with child; to go with child.
c1175 Cott. Hom. (Morris) 227 Hi..wur mid cylde. c1205 LAY. 265 eo wimon was mid childe [c1275 e mayde was wid childe]. c1250 Gen. & Ex. 974 Agar.. wimman wi childe. a1300 Cursor M. 2605 Agar was made wit child. a1310 in Wright Lyric P. (Mätz.) What sorewe hit is with childe gon. 1340 Ayenb. 224 e elifans nele nat wonye mid his wyue erhuyle et hi is mid childe. 1480 CAXTON Chron. Eng. ccxlviii. 317 She sayd that she was with child. 1597 SHAKES. 2 Hen. IV, V. iv. 10 If the childe I now go with, do miscarrie. 1603 Meas. for M. I. ii. 74 For getting Madam Iulietta with childe. 1611 BIBLE Matt. i. 18 Shee was found with childe of [COVERDALE by] the holy Ghost. 1651 JER. TAYLOR Holy Living iv. (1727) 327 Women great with child. 1864 TENNYSON En. Ard. 518 Such doubts and fears were common to her state, Being with child.
b. transf. of ground, trees, ships with swelling sails. Obs.
c1420 Pallad. on Husb. I. 70 With ryshes, reede, graas..also goo it [good land] with childe. 1577 B. GOOGE Heresbach's Husb. II. (1586) 105 In the Spring, all Trees are as it were with child. 1606 CHAPMAN Marlowe's Hero & L. III, All her fleet of spirits came swelling in, With child of Sail.
c. fig. (a) Full (of a thing) so as to be ready to burst with it; teeming, pregnant; = BIG a. 5; (b) Eager, longing, yearning (to do a thing). Obs.
1548 UDALL, etc. Erasm. Par. Luke xxiii. 8 The man had of long tyme been with chylde to haue a sight of Iesus. 1590 SPENSER F.Q. I. v. 1 The noble hart that..is with childe of glorious great intent. 1594 CAREW Tasso (1881) 116 Their countnance mery and their eyes with child Of ioy. 1660 PEPYS Diary 14 May, I sent my boy, who, like myself, is with child to see any strange thing. Ibid. 9 Oct., I went to my Lord, and saw..his picture..and am with child till I get it copied out. 1725 BAILEY Erasm. Colloq. 264 I'm with child to hear it.
18. child's play (child's game, childer game, childer spell): a. lit. play befitting a child, childish sport; b. fig. a piece of work easily accomplished, trivial matter, trifle.
c1325 in Rel. Ant. I. 292 It is but childes game. c1386 CHAUCER Merch. T. 286 It is no childes pley To take a wyf with-outen auysement. 14.. Prose Leg. in Anglia VIII. 128 Childer pleye. 1548 Luther's Art. Faith Pref. A v, Forgette all children playes. 1605 SYLVESTER Du Bartas II. iii. IV. 193 What childre-spell? What May-game have we here? c1631 Turn. Totenham 154 It was no childer game when thei to geder mete. 1839 CARLYLE Chartism vi. 144 The..craftsman finds it no child's-play.
19. child's part (also in pl. childer-parts): child's portion or share of inheritance. Obs.
1509 Test. Ebor. (Surtees) V. 10, I wit to the seid Lannslot a kist..and his hole childe parte without enny trouble. 1547 Richmond. Wills (1853) 64 Vij li. overe and besydes theire childreparts. 1607 TOURNEUR Rev. Trag. II. i. 39 That has no other childe's-part but her honor. 1640 SANDERSON Serm. II. 141 Every mothers child..hath a childs~part of those troubles.
20. In proverbs and proverbial phrases, as the burnt child dreads the fire (BURNT 3b); the child unborn, as type of innocence or ignorance, etc.
c1400 Rom. Rose 1820 Brent child of fier hath mych drede. 1539 TAVERNER Erasm. Prov. (1552) 62 Oure common prouerbe..Children, drunkers and fooles, can not lye. 1547 DUKE OF NORFOLK in Lingard Hist. Eng. (1855) V. iii. 103/1 Nor can [I] no more judge..what should be laid to my charge, than the child that was born this night. 1549 LATIMER Serm. bef. Edw. VI (Arb.) 56 As the Prouerb is, Senex bis puer. An olde manne, twyse a chyld. 1562 J. HEYWOOD Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 69 Many kisse the childe for the nurses sake. 1765 STERNE Tr. Shandy, VIII. xxviii. She knows no more..of it..than the child unborn.
V. Combinations.
21. General combs. a. appositive, as child-angel, -girl, -heroine, -king, -man, -mother, -noble, -prince, -saint, -sweetheart, -virgin, etc.; b. attributive, as child-cheek, -kind, -labour, -literature, -nature, -sacrifice, -smile, -spirit, -suffering, -world, etc.; c. objective: (a) direct, as child-eater, -eating adj., -killer, -killing, -lover, -loving adj., -murder, -murderer, -stealer, etc.; (b) indirect, as child-bereft adj.; d. similative, as child-simple adj., etc., etc.
1853 LYTTON My Novel (Hoppe) The fair creature whom Leonard called his *child-angel.
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18.. MRS. BROWNING Lost Bower lxii, The *child-cheek blushing scarlet.
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1826 SCOTT Woodst. xx, I was captain in Lunsford's light horse..I was a *child-eater, Sir.
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1845 J. H. NEWMAN Developm. Chr. Doctr. (L.), The calumnies of *child-eating and impurity in the christian meetings.
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1593 SHAKES. 3 Hen. VI, II. ii. 112 That Clifford, that cruell *Child-killer.
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1828 Q. Rev. XXXVII. 402 What would mankind, or womankind, or *childkind think.
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1601 HOLLAND Camden's Brit. I. 232 England felt all miseries which happen under a *Child-King.
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1878 N. Amer. Rev. CXXVII. 448 Limitation of *child-labor.
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1884 Mag. Art 133/2 The *child-literature of the last generation.
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1840 CARLYLE Heroes (1858) 190 The first Pagan Thinker..was precisely this *child-man of Plato's.
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1869 FREEMAN Old Eng. Hist. for Children 272 That there should be some one in his College able to teach..he made the ‘*Childmaster’ be one of the chief among the Canons [cf. 4.]
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1755 BURN Justice of Peace, Children & Infants (L.), The offence of *child-murder.
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1865 Sat. Rev. Aug. 162 The professional *child-murderer.
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1874 CARPENTER Ment. Phys. I. viii, Teacher Ignorant of the fundamental facts of *child-nature.
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1860 PUSEY Min. Proph. 3 Baal and Ashtaroth, with all their abominations of consecrated *child-sacrifices.
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1610 HOLLAND Camden's Brit. I. 396 S. Rumald..was canonized..for a *Child-Saint.
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1850 MRS. BROWNING Poems II. 310 *Child-simple, undefiled, Frank, obedient.
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Ibid. II. 216 To erase the *child-smile from her lips.
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1883 H. DRUMMOND Nat. Law in Spir. W. (ed. 2) 271 The condition of entrance into the spiritual kingdom is to possess the *child-spirit.
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1866 HOWELLS Venet. Life iv. 61 Titian's *child-virgin.
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1856 WHITTIER Brew. Soma viii, As in that *child-world's early year.
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e. Passing into adj., with the meaning of ‘child's’ or ‘childish’, child-art, -brain, -bride, -culture, -eyed adj., -face (hence -faced adj.), -marriage, -mind, -voice, -word.
1945 H. READ Coat of Many Colours xix. 101 Folk-art is merely child-art which has become adult.
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1904 Daily Chron. 21 May 4/5 My child-brain, clear and natural, could not swallow the impossibilities administered to me as facts.
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1843 LYTTON Last of Barons II. V. i. 161 Boy-bridegroom and child-bride as we were. 1909 Daily Chron. 9 Oct. 3/1 The author shows us the child-bride arriving at the court of France.
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1899 BEERBOHM Around Theatres (1924) I. 87 The modern system of child-culture..is the system of treating children as decoration.
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1925 W. DEEPING Sorrell & Son xiv. 129 Merry, insouciant, child-eyed little lady.
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1909 Westm. Gaz. 23 Dec. 2/1 A child-face glowing with more radiant happiness we have never seen.
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1906 Macm. Mag. Oct. 942 The curly-headed, thick-lipped, child-faced, gay, unlucky negro.
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1894 F. J. FURNIVALL (title) Child-marriages, divorces, and ratifications, &c. 1933 Lancet 22 Apr. 886/2 Legislation for the prevention of child marriage [in India].
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1906 Daily Chron. 8 Sept. 3/2 In order to interest the child-mind, the subject is treated so as to focus attention on the marvellous intricacies of Nature. 1919 W. DE LA MARE R. Brooke 10 The child-mind, the child-imagination persists.
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1898 WATTS-DUNTON Aylwin i. §2 Into my very being that child-voice passed. 1944 E. SITWELL Green Song 31 Lest I hear your child-voice crying.
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1947 Mod. Lang. Rev. July 354 The transition from the child-word to the conventional word.
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22. Special combs.: child abuse, maltreatment of a child, esp. by beating, sexual interference, or neglect; child-age, childhood; child benefit, a State benefit replacing family allowance (FAMILY n. 11) (see quot. 1975); child-bird, (see quot.); child-bishop = boy-bishop (see BOY n.1 7); child-care [CARE n.1 4], the care or oversight of a child or children; also attrib.; child-centred a., centred around the child; having the interests, needs, etc., of the child as its main concern; child-changed a., ? changed into a child, or ? changed by the conduct of his children; child-crowing, the disease Laryngismus stridulus or spasmodic croup; child-farming = baby-farming (see BABY 2); child-geared a., having childish manners; child-great a., big with child, pregnant; child guidance, the supervision of the welfare, esp. in its psychological aspects, of children and adolescents; also attrib., esp. in child guidance clinic; child-ill (Sc.), the pains of child-bearing, labour; child-land, the (ideal) realm of childhood; child-life, life as a child; the lives of the children of a nation or community; child-minder, childminder, a person who takes care of small children (e.g. when the mother is working); child molester, one who is guilty of sexually assaulting a child; also child molestation; child-proof a., that cannot be operated by, or damaged by, a child; child psychology, the systematic study of the psychology of children; so child psychologist; child-queller, one who kills children (obs.); humorously, one who deals severely with children; children's hour, an hour of recreation in the evening, spent in former times by children with their parents; (with capital initials) a B.B.C. radio programme thus entitled (first broadcast 1922, discontinued 1961); child restraint orig. U.S., a seat-belt or safety seat designed for the protection of children in a motor vehicle; child-ridden a., overridden with children; child-rider, (cf. sense 6); child-rites n. pl., the rites connected with the baptism of children; child's-eye view [cf. bird's-eye view], a view, picture, or opinion, such as is presented to the eye of a child; child-study, the systematic study of children and their ways; childward a., directed towards children (rare); child welfare [WELFARE n.4], the welfare of children; child-woman, a girl, maid(-servant); a woman who is still a child. See also CHILD-BEARING, -BED, -BIRTH, -WIFE, -WITE.
1972 Newsweek 11 Sept. 76/1 Other themes scheduled for prime-time dramatic treatment include impotency, castration,..and *child abuse. 1984 Toronto Star 28 Mar. A6/5 The number of reported cases of child abuse in Metro has risen 300 per cent since 1981.
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1548 UDALL, etc. Erasm. Par. John Pref. 4a, In your very *chyldage there appered in you a certayne..meruelous towardenes. 1638 T. WHITAKER Blood of Grape 43 Child~age, which from the birth is extended to the foureteenth or fifteenth yeare.
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1975 Child Benefit Act c. 61 § 1 (1) A person who is responsible for one or more children in any week..shall be entitled to a benefit (to be known as ‘*child benefit’) for that week in respect of the child or each of the children for whom he is responsible. 1977 Belfast Tel. 22 Feb. 3/1 (Advt.), If you want Child Benefit, we want your Family Allowances book.
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1745 Ovalle's Relation Chile xix. (Churchill Voy. III.) [A] bird called the *Child-bird, because it looks like a swaddled child with its arms at liberty..Perhaps they are the same, called Penguins.
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1720 STRYPE Stow's Surv. (1754) I. I. xxv. 186/1 The Children every Childermas day to go to Paul's Church and hear the *Child-Bishop Sermon.
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1915 J. WEBSTER Dear Enemy (1916) 217 Modern, humane views on the subject of *child-care. 1960 Guardian 9 Nov. 6/5 Most child-care officers can produce examples of this type of failure.
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1928 RUGG & SHUMAKER (title) The *child-centered school. Ibid. p. ix, Tolerant understanding and creative self-expressionthe two great aims of the new education. These are the two criteria on which we shall appraise the child-centered schools. 1949 K. YOUNG Sociology (ed. 2) xxv. 468 In recent decades democratic cultures have shown a tendency toward not only the child-centered school but the child-centered home. In such families the child may be permitted..to dominate many domestic situations which in other cultures would not be tolerated. 1965 HALL & HOWES Church in Social Work I. iii. 57 A tendency..for much social work to become child centred, that is, to make what were believed to be the psychological needs of the child paramount in all cases. 1970 Guardian 28 Jan. 11/5 The child-centred, permissive approach.
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1605 SHAKES. Lear IV. vii. 17 This *childe-changed Father.
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1861 T. GRAHAM Pract. Med. 191 The *child-crowing, though merely a spasmodic disease, is not..free from danger.
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1872 FORSTER Dickens (1874) III. 257 A *child-farming that deserved the gallows.
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c1340 Gaw. & Gr. Knt. 86 He watz so ioly of his ioyfnes & sumquat *child-gered.
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1605 SYLVESTER Du Bartas I. iii. I. 98 A *Child-great Woman.
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1927 S. & M. G. BLANTON (title) *Child guidance. 1928 R. P. TRUITT et al. (title) The child guidance clinic and the community. 1937 ‘E. M. DELAFIELD’ Ladies & Gentl. in Vict. Fiction i. 33 A modern child-guidance expert. 1940 R. S. WOODWORTH Psychol. (ed. 12) i. 13 When a child presents a serious behaviour problem..he may be taken to a child guidance clinic.
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1375 BARBOUR Bruce XVI. 274 It is the layndar..That her *chyld-ill rycht now hes tane.
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1865 ‘L. CARROLL’ Alice in W. xii. 192 Remembering her own *child-life, and the happy summer days. 1884 Mag. Art Feb. 135/1 Scarcely painters of child-life or child-character. 1885 M. I. BRYSON (title) Child Life in Chinese Homes. 1907 Westm. Gaz. 6 July 16/3 Aspects of Child Life and Education.
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1941 Economist 29 Mar. 406/1 Members were agreed in rejecting Mr. Bevin's..scheme for the provision of *child ‘minders’, urging that women engaged in looking after their own children should not be called up. 1964 Punch 1 Apr. 481/3 Panels of child-minders for working mothers.
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1950 Collier's 21 Jan. 21/1 When *child molesters got to the courts, like as not they were let off with $100 fines. 1981 G. SWIFT Shuttlecock i. 15 A suspected child-molester..who commits suicide before proceedings can be taken.
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1950 Collier's 21 Jan. 21/1 How many cases of *child molestation were never reported to the police? 1960 G. WESTWOOD Minority viii. 165 The dangers of child molestation from homosexuals are small but not negligible. 1977 Daily Mirror 15 Mar. 3/5 [The] film director.., who is accused of rape, child molestation..[etc.], claimed today that he is innocent.
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1956 B. CLEARY Fifteen ix. 192 Mrs Scruggs had done everything possible to make the room *childproof. 1958 Vogue June 14 Special child-proof rear door locks.
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1897 Amer. Naturalist XXXI. 455 The past year has been one of remarkable activity in the sphere of *Child Psychology everywhere, but especially in this country. 1924 R. M. OGDEN tr. Koffka's Growth of Mind 3 The child-psychologist can follow the growth of a human being. Ibid., Principles of child-psychology. 1941 ‘R. CROMPTON’ William does his Bit x. 232 Mrs. Dayford was a self-styled expert on Child Psychology.
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c1500 Cocke Lorell's B. (1843) 11 Mortherers, Crakers, facers, and *chylderne quellers. 1848 DICKENS Dombey viii, The castle of this ogress and child-queller was in a steep by-street.
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1863 H. W. LONGFELLOW Tales of Wayside Inn 209 Between the dark and the daylight..Comes a pause in the day's occupations, That is known as the *Children's Hour. 1923 Radio Times 12 Oct. 89/3 The Children's Hour: (a) Games and Pastimes; (b) Children's News. 1937 ‘E. M. DELAFIELD’ Ladies & Gentl. in Vict. Fiction 14 The children..live in the society of their parents. What was once known as the children's hour now extends handsomely into the twenty-four. 1964 M. LASKI in S. Nowell-Smith Edwardian Eng. iv. 199 The institution of the ‘children's hour’ between afternoon tea and dressing for dinner.
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1976 National Observer (U.S.) 5 June 9/1 The study recommended that children be restrained by a seat belt or specially designed *child-restraint system while traveling. 1986 Nursery World 13 Feb. 12/3 There are also sections on road safety..with a round up of all the various kinds of child restraints available.
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1870 R. BROUGHTON Red as Rose I. 254 The Felton curate's fat *childridden wife. 1679-88 Secr. Serv. Money Chas. & Jas. (1851) p. vi, Footmen 24, *Child~ryders 4, Falconers 12.
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1616 CHAPMAN Homer's Hymns 26 Every feeble chaine of earthy *childrights flew in sunder all. 1823 LAMB Elia (Hoppe) An Anabaptist minister conforming to the child-rites of the Church.
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1959 Birmingham Mail 29 May 4/6 The serious-minded parents could no longer ignore the *child's-eye view of the family world. 1959 I. & P. OPIE Lore & Lang. Schoolchildren xv. 340 The interest of the following five descriptions lies in their being child's-eye views of what are still primarily adult activities.
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1899 Daily News 9 June 3/4 *Child-Study and Mental Training. 1899 W. JAMES Talks to Teachers i. 14, I know that child-study, and other pieces of psychology as well, have been productive of bad conscience in many a really innocent pedagogic breast. 1909 Daily Chron. 18 Nov. 7/2 There are those who urge a rather plausible plea in these child-study days for a little wholesome neglect.
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1847 TENNYSON Princ. VII. 267 She [must gain] mental breadth, nor fail in *childward care.
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1908 H. G. WELLS New Worlds for Old xiii. 305 There is the need and opportunity of organizing..*child welfare. 1915 A. L. STRONG (title) Child Welfare Exhibits. 1930 British American 19 Apr. 6/1 Mrs. J. S. Inglis, Kilrymont, St. Andrews, who took a leading part in the child welfare movement and coined the term ‘child welfare’. 1958 New Statesman 20 Dec. 877/1 Intelligence testing, for example, grew to its present stature because its value was recognised in the world of education and child welfare.
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1382 WYCLIF Judith xiii. 4 Judit seide to hir *child womman [1388 damesele]. Esther iv. 4 The childer wymmen of Ester. 1862 LYTTON Str. Story 247 The childwoman in the childworld.
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ADDITIONS SERIES 1993
child, n.
Add: [22.] child allowance, a tax allowance granted to parents of dependent children; also loosely, = child benefit.
1954 Hansard Commons 9 Mar. 1922 Mr. Jay asked the Chancellor of the Exchequer whether..he will give a high priority to a substantial increase in the Income Tax *child allowance. 1966 B. E. V. SABINE Hist. Income Tax ix. 148 Child allowances, still only granted for incomes not exceeding £500..doubled to £20 for each child. 1974 Hansard Commons 13 Nov. 418 The Government are committed to extend the family allowance to the first child under their child allowance scheme. 1985 J. WINTERSON Oranges are not only Fruit 25, I..wrote on the back of a child allowance form.
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DRAFT ADDITIONS DECEMBER 2004
child, n.
Child Support Agency (also child support agency), an agency responsible for the assessment and, where necessary, the collection of compulsory child maintenance payments from absent parents (the official name of a central government agency in Australia and the United Kingdom); abbreviated CSA.
1981 N.Y. Times (Nexis) 7 Jan. A14/5 The regulation would allow state *child support agencies to use the Internal Revenue Service to collect the payments. 1987 Record (Bergen County, New Jersey) (Nexis) 13 Mar. A8 Roukema's bill would also make it easier for state and federal child-support agencies to see the employment records of parents ordered to pay support. 1990 Children come First in Parl. Papers 1989-90 (Cmnd. 1264) I. p. ii, A Child Support Agency will be created. It will have responsibilities for the assessment, review, collection and enforcement of maintenance payents. 1990 Independent 26 Jan. 17 Stage One [of a new child support scheme in Australia] made no change to the calculation of maintenance orders or agreements between parents, but set up a new branch of the tax office, the Child Support Agency (CSA) to collect payments. 2000 Economist (Electronic ed.) 20 May, In the last Parliament, the inquiry by the Social Security Committee into the failings of the Child Support Agency forced reform.
child within = INNER CHILD n.
[1950 Public Opinion Q. 14 480 Animistic representations in advertisements are certain to receive immediate attention since they appeal to the child within ourselves.] 1983 19th-cent. Fiction 37 519 The ghost child whom the adult narrator encounters..is also..a resurrection of an ever-present *child within. 1991 U. MARKHAM Your Four Point Plan for Life (BNC) 73 If our parents were kind and supportive, our own adult within is likely to be so. If they gave in to our tantrums, our child within will probably manifest itself in a negative, rather than a positive, fashion. 2000 Big Issue 20 Mar. 9/5 As the daughter of hippy parents..she doesn't give up the ‘child within’ without a fight.
child-directed speech Linguistics and Social Psychol., a simpified form of language used in speaking to babies and young children; cf. MOTHERESE n. (child-directed speech is now the preferred term).
1972 P. A. BROEN Verbal Environm. of Language-learning Child iii. 17 It remains to be seen how pauses function in *child-directed adult speech. 2003 Canad. Psychol. (Nexis) 44 77 Social interaction, especially child-directed speech, is vital to all development.