tidling Obs. exc. dial.
(ˈtɪdlɪŋ)
Also 6 tideling (-ynge), 9 dial. tiddling.
[? deriv. of tiddle v. 1 or tid a.: see -ling1.]
A pampered or spoilt child; a darling, pet; a young, delicate, or puny child or animal, needing special care; a weakling, ‘dilling’.
| 1520 Whitinton Vulg. 37 b, These cokeneis and tidelynges wantonly brought vp. a 1553 Nice Wanton in Hazl. Dodsley II. 164 She for their sake, Being her tender tidlings, will me beat. [Cf. ibid. 173 [referring to the same persons] My parents did tiddle me: they were to blame; ibid. 174 Yet were we tiddled, and you beaten now and then.] c 1580 J. Jeffere Bugbears iii. i. in Archiv Stud. Neu. Spr. (1897), The gray beard daunceth, and fareth as he weare dame venus tideling. 1657 Trapp Comm. Ps. iii. Introd., Absalom his Son, his Darling, his Tidling, his one Eye. 1904 Eng. Dial. Dict. s.v. Tiddle, Tiddling, (a) a young animal, esp. a lamb, brought up by hand; a delicate child needing care; (b) the smallest pig in a litter. |