▪ I. † ˈearthling, n.1 Obs.
Forms: 1 yrþling, 2 urþling, 8 earthling.
[f. earth n.2 + -ling.]
A ploughman, cultivator of the soil. Perh. only in OE.; quots. 1200 and 1714 merely give the OE. word in later spelling.
| c 1000 ælfric Colloq. in Wr.-Wülcker 99 Se yrþling us ealle fett. a 1200 Fragm. ælfric's Gloss. (1838) 2 Urþling. 1714 J. Fortescue-Aland Fortescue's Abs. & Lim. Mon. 79 [The Anglo-Saxon] Eorthling, is a Husbandman, or Earthling. |
▪ II. earthling, n.2
(ˈɜːθlɪŋ)
[f. earth n.1 + -ling.]
1. An inhabitant of the earth.
| 1593 Nashe Christ's T. (1613) 124 Wee (of all earthlings) are Gods vtmost subiects. c 1630 Drummond of Hawthornden Poems Wks. (1711) 31 Nature gaz'd on with such a curious eye, That earthlings oft her deem'd a deity. 1819 H. Busk Vestriad iii. 176 Shall we..in absence be betray'd, Like puny earthlings by a faithless maid? 1839 Bailey Festus xxiii. (1848) 297 Behold this earthling standing by my side. 1949 R. Heinlein Red Planet (1963) viii. 125 An Earthling has no good way to estimate the age of a Martian. 1965 J. Blish Mission to Heart Stars vi. 77 The Earthlings are now deep into the Heart Stars. 1967 Ampleforth Jrnl. Summer 163 To receive the overspill by immigration..the planets might come to the rescue of the Earthlings. |
2. One who is earthly in mind or disposition.
| 1615 Rowlands Melanch. Knt. 35, I haue interiour excellence that shines Beyond your earthlings gold and siluer mines. a 1652 J. Smith Sel. Disc. v. 148 It is not gold or silver that the earthlings of this world seek after. 1866 Alger Solit. Nat. & Man ii. 59 The cold earthlings who form the various embodiments of selfishness. |