† ˈwarling Obs.
Forms: 6 werlyng, 7 worling, worldling, 7– warling.
[app. formed arbitrarily to rhyme with darling. The resemblance to the Sc. wirling seems to be accidental.]
One who is despised or disliked. Only in the proverb (see quots.) and allusively.
In the proverb snarling is sometimes substituted for warling; the form worldling is an obvious perversion.
| 1546 J. Heywood Prov. ii. vii. (1867) 65 It is better to be An olde mans derlyng, than a yong mans werlyng. 1604 [? Chettle] Wit of Woman F 4, A young mans worldling. 1611 L. Barry Ram Alley ii. i, A young mans warling. 1671 T. Hunt Abeced. Scholast. 91 A young mans Worling. 1857 Sir F. Palgrave Norm. & Eng. (1864) III. iii. 162 Fully does King Henry appear self-vindicated from the stigma of inertness, the failing assigned by his vixen Mother as justifying her schemes for aggrandizing her darling at the expence of her warling. |