▪ I. baby, n.
(ˈbeɪbɪ)
Forms: 4–6 babi, 5 babee, 6 babye, 6–7 babie, 4– baby; 6–9 dial. babby.
[A pet-form of babe (see -y4), which passed into familiar use, while babe remained as the dignified word (e.g. in Scripture) and is now chiefly poetic.]
A. n.
1. a. An infant, a young child of either sex. (Formerly synonymous with child; now usually restricted to an infant ‘in arms.’)
| 1377 Langl. P. Pl. B. xvii. 94 With penaunce and passioun of þat babi. 1393 Gower Conf. I. 265 The yonge babies crieden alle. c 1475 Babees Book 45 Yee Babees in housholde that done duelle. 1533 Bellendene Livy v. (1822) 438 We bere na armoure aganis babbyis. 1611 Shakes. Wint. T. ii. i. 6 You'le kisse me hard, and speake to me, as if I were a Baby still. 1771 Fenning Eng. Dict., Baby, a young child, distinguished from ‘babe,’ because that is applied to children who can both walk and speak, but this to those who can do neither. 1864 Tennyson En. Ard. 194 Lightly rocking baby's cradle. 1865 Dickens Mut. Fr. 3 ‘The fire that warmed you when you were a babby.’ |
b. fig. Applied to a person's invention, achievement, concern or responsibility; so
to carry or
hold the baby, to be saddled with an unwelcome responsibility.
| 1890 Jrnl. Soc. Arts XLVIII. 65/1 Count Chardonnet..was then shewing his new-born baby, which he called soie artificielle. 1912 Q. Rev. July 103 The ‘bull’..becomes a ‘stale’ bull, and drifts into the position frequently described as ‘holding the baby’—that is to say, nursing a stock or share, perhaps for months, in the vague hope of getting rid of it some day at a profit. 1927 A. E. W. Mason No other Tiger xxiii. 261 He certainly has had the baby to hold all his life. 1927 Daily Express 8 July 6 Disclaiming responsibility for all the financial misfortunes of the country, he found himself confronted by Mr. Jack Jones, who told him that he was ‘carrying the baby’ anyhow. 1928 Ibid. 14 Jan. 11/7 If other bidders enter into competition, they find themselves run up to a high figure, and are then left to ‘hold the baby’. 1935 D. L. Sayers Gaudy Night vii. 153 Poor blighter. He always gets left with the baby. 1948 ‘N. Shute’ No Highway xii. 297 The Assegai, it seemed, was going to be my baby. |
c. A girl; a girl-friend; a young woman: often as a form of address.
slang (chiefly
U.S.).
The degree of slanginess of the nineteenth-century examples is not easily determinable.
| 1839 F. A. Kemble Jrnl. Residence Georgian Plantation (1863) 30 ‘Oh massa!..where you get this lilly alablaster baby!’.. I looked round to see if she was speaking of my baby; but no..this superlative apostrophe was elicited by the fairness of my skin. 1870 D. J. Kirwan Palace & Hovel (1963) xxii. 196 ‘Baby Hamilton’ is another celebrity of the Half-World. Many stories are told about the recklessness of this girl. Ibid., The ‘Baby’ had to leave Paris. 1901 A. M. Binstead More Gal's Gossip v. 74 One overhears a callow youth of twenty address a still fascinating belle of forty, to whom he is giving supper, as ‘Baby’. 1911 H. S. Harrison Queed xiii. 167 Bad-eyed young men who congregate..to smirk at the working girls... ‘Where you goin’, baby?’ 1918 C. Sandburg Cornhuskers 60 My baby's going to have a new dress. 1927 H. A. Vachell Dew of Sea 269 I'm beginning to thing that baby is half vamp and half floosie. 1940 Illustr. London News 6 Jan. 24/1 He has a ‘baby’, an empty-headed little chorus-girl, whom he worships. |
d. A person.
slang. In
quots. 1919, 1953 ‘this baby’
= the speaker himself.
| 1899 R. Whiteing No. 5 John St. xxix. 306 The bounders..think they're such awfully warm babies. 1919 R. Lardner Real Dope 83 Well old pal it looks like they [sic] wouldn't be no front line trenchs for this baby. 1928 Sat. Even. Post 7 Jan. 21/1 [wife to her husband] ‘Sure, baby,’ she replied sympathetically. 1950 A. Lomax Mr. Jelly Roll (1952) 57 Some terrible environments..inhabited by some very tough babies. 1953 ‘R. Gordon’ Dr. at Sea vi. 70 Some skippers cook the log, but not this baby. 1968 Listener 31 Oct. 565/3 The dialogue is over, baby. |
e. to
empty,
pour, or
throw the baby out (or away) with the bath(-water) (
cf. G.
das Kind mit dem Bade ausschütten), to reject the essential with the inessential, to discard what is valuable along with what is waste or useless.
| 1909 G. B. Shaw Pen Portraits & Reviews (1932) 87 Like all reactionists, he usually empties the baby out with the bath. 1911 ― Getting Married Pref. 186 We shall in a very literal sense empty the baby out with the bath by abolishing an institution which needs nothing more than a little..rationalizing to make it..useful. 1922 Mrs. P. Campbell Let. 7 Jan. in Shaw & Mrs. Campbell (1952) 239 As to ‘Relativity’, I read somewhere that it is a philosophy that ‘empties the baby out with the bath water’. 1939 S. Spender tr. Toller's Pastor Hall ii. 84 You pour the baby out with the bath. 1957 E. Gowers H. W. Fowler 14 We can rid ourselves of those grammarians' fetishes which make it more difficult to be intelligible without throwing the baby away with the bath-water. |
† 2. A doll, puppet.
Obs.| 1552 Huloet, Baby or puppet for chyldren, Pupa. 1563 Homilies, Idolatry iii. (1844) 238 Puppets and babies for old fools in dotage. 1651 Lilly Chas. I (1774) 219 Whose father sold babies and such pedlary ware in Cheapside. 1712 Steele Spect. No. 500 ¶3 Little girls tutoring their Babies. 1721 Pope Let. Blount 3 Oct., Sober over her Sampler, or gay over a jointed Baby. |
† 3. A small image of oneself reflected in the pupil of another's eye; hence
to look babies.
Obs.| 1593 Tell-trothe's N.Y. Gift 39 That babie which lodges in womens eies. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. iii. ii. vi. v. (1651) 576 They may kiss and coll, lye and look babies in one anothers eyes. 1672 Marvell Reh. Transp. i. 66 Only to speculate his own Baby in their eyes. 1682 A. Behn City Heiress iii. i, Sigh'd, and lookt Babies in his gloating Eyes. |
† 4. pl. Pictures in books;
perh. orig. the ornamental tail-pieces and borders with cupids and grotesque figures interworked (
cf. babery). Still in
north. dial.| 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas (1621) 5 We gaze but on the babies and the cover, The gaudy flowers and edges painted over. 1618 Hales Gold. Rem. (1673) ii. 8 Provided that, in the Tables and Maps, there were no pictures and babies. 1655 Fuller Hist. Camb. (1840) 39 More pleased with babies in books than children are. |
5. fig. (contemptuously) A foolish or childish fellow.
to smell of the baby: to be childish.
| 1603 Patient Grissil 17 My brisk spangled baby will come into a stationer's shop. 1618 Breton Court. & Countrym. 19 (D.) So long in their horne booke that, doe what they can, they will smell of the Baby till they can not see to read. 1660 Milton Free Commonw. Wks. (1851) 430 If we were aught els but Sluggards or Babies. |
6. transf. The young of an animal;
cf. B. 1 a.
| 1883 G. Allen in Knowledge 18 Aug. 97/2 While he [the young hare] is still a baby. |
7. a. fig. A (comparatively) tiny thing;
cf. B. 1 a.
| 1859 Jephson Brittany vii. 88 Turrets beside which the leaning tower of Pisa is a baby. |
b. Applied to a small-sized bottle, jar, etc.
slang.| 1853 Househ. Words VII. 123/2 A stone bottle of ardent spirits called baby for shortness and secresy. Ibid. 124/2 He has nabbed a ‘baby’! 1909 Ware Passing Eng. 13 The half-bottle (2d.), which from its small size was dubbed ‘baby’ by all men. 1958 Spectator 10 Jan. 40/3 Pubs refusing to serve standard-size bottles of mineral water because they only stock ‘babies’. |
c. spec. A small car.
| 1920 Punch 27 Oct. 329/3 Triumph 1920 4 h.p. Model H, also Baby, both brand new. 1931 Star 8 May 13/1 One of the ‘babies’ was setting up such a pace that the big cars were out of the hunt. |
8. transf. The youngest or most junior of a family, group of persons, team, etc.
| 1897 ‘P. Warung’ Tales Old Régime 243 Blake was twenty-five, Clyde was twenty-four, and Entworth forty-one... Short was the ‘baby’. 1914 Daily Express 19 Sept. 5/1 The ‘babies’ of the Southern League, Croydon Common, will face Crystal Palace. Ibid. 20 Nov. 5/4 [He] was only eighteen years of age, and was known as ‘the baby’ of his company. 1925 W. Deeping Sorrell & Son xxiv. §2 There was one young Pentreath,—the baby. |
B. Comb. (in which
baby approaches in use to an
adj.)
1. General relations:
a. appositive (
hence = ‘little, tiny’), as
baby-boy,
baby-figure (1606),
baby-germ,
baby-girl,
baby-stream, (and of animals)
baby-bird,
baby-elephant,
baby-snake;
b. objective
gen. with verbal
n. or
pple., as
baby-eater,
baby-minder,
baby-seller (1634),
baby-worship;
c. similative, as
baby-blind (1627),
baby-mild;
d. attrib. (of or befitting a baby),
hence = ‘infantine, innocent,’ ‘little, tiny,’ ‘babyish, silly,’ as
baby age,
baby brow (1605),
baby dance,
baby face,
baby hand,
baby-language,
baby mind,
baby-name,
baby-play,
baby sole,
baby talk;
e. attrib. (for a baby's use), as
baby-basket,
baby-class,
baby-clothes,
baby-clouts,
baby-harness,
baby-linen,
baby-things (1783);
f. parasynthetic
deriv., as
baby-faced,
baby-featured (1780).
| 1634 Bayne On Coloss. 357 The *baby age of the Church. |
| 1884 Queen Victoria More Leaves 168 The *baby-basket sent her..when King James I. was born. |
| 1864 Kingsley Water Bab. 279 An old song..learnt when she was a little *baby-bird. |
| 1627 H. Burton Baiting Pope's Bull 6 Filiall, or rather *baby-blind obedience. |
| 1605 Shakes. Macb. iv. i. 88 Weares vpon his *Baby-brow, the round And top of Soueraignty. |
| 1850 Mrs. Browning Poems II. 174 *Baby-browed And speechless Being. |
| 1873 C. M. Yonge Pillars of House I. ii. 24 That she might not..[go] down to the bottom of the *baby-class. 1934 N. Marsh Man lay Dead xii. 212 Baby-class stuff at the Yard. |
| 1704 N. Blundell Diary 7 July (1952) ii. 23, I opened a box of *Babby Cloths which was sent to my Wife by my Lady Webb. 1798 Jane Austen Let. 27 Oct. (1932) I. 25 Dame Tilbury's daughter has lain in. Shall I give her any of your baby clothes? 1866 Rossetti Let. 5 Jan. (1965) II. 586 Some women preparing the grave-clothes and baby-clothes at the same time. |
| 1770 J. Love Cricket 7 Leave the dissolving Song, the *baby Dance. |
| 1848 Kingsley Saint's Trag. i. i. 40 Worshippers of black cats, *baby-eaters, and such like. |
| 1864 Reader 14 May 626 The mind of a *baby elephant. |
| 1713 Swift Cadenus & V. Wks. 1755 III. ii. 16 A *baby face, no life, no airs. |
| 1839 Dickens Nich. Nick. liv. 536 A *baby-faced chit of a girl. 1883 A. Dobson in Eng. Illust. Mag. Nov. 79/2 That baby-faced beauty. 1959 N. Marsh Singing in Shrouds iv. 64 Baby-faced petulance. |
| 1780 Cowper Progr. Error 201 *Baby-featured, and of infant size. |
| 1606 Shakes. Tr. & Cr. i. iii. 345 The *baby figure of the Gyant-masse Of things to come at large. |
| 1842 Tennyson Talking Oak xx, She gamboll'd on the greens, A *baby-germ. |
| 1871 M. Collins Mrq. & Merch. I. i. 16 The Marchioness had a *baby-girl. |
| 1791 E. Darwin Bot. Gard. ii. 64 Feeds from its *baby-hand..The callow nestlings. |
| 1930 M. Mead Growing Up in New Guinea 24 The child sits quietly [in the canoe]... There are no straps, no *baby harnesses to detain him in his place. 1962 Guardian 5 Nov. 4/3 A lightweight baby harness..used to hold a baby in a high-chair for feeding. |
| 1892 C. M. Yonge That Stick xxvii. 181 That pretty precision of utterance that children sometimes acquire when *baby language has not been foolishly fostered. 1923 H. Walpole Introd. to H. Lofting Dr. Dolittle p. vii, Grown-ups imagine that they can do the trick by adopting baby language and talking down to their very critical audience. 1932 Oxf. Compan. Eng. Lit. 756/1 It [sc. Journal to Stella] is a series of intimate letters..for the most part written in baby-language. |
| 1814 Jane Austen Mansf. Park I. i. 6 Lady Bertram dispatched money and *baby-linen. |
| a 1845 Hood Lycus Poems (1858) 307 The leopard was..*baby-mild in its feature. |
| 1863 F. A. Kemble Jrnl. Residence Georgian Plantation App. 401 The only supervision exercised over either babies or ‘*baby minders’ was that of the old woman left in charge of the infirmary. 1959 Times 8 June 13/1 Resident nannies and baby-minders. |
| 1784 Cowper Task v. 190 Infirm and *baby minds. |
| 1856 C. M. Yonge Daisy Chain ii. v. 382 *Baby-names never ought to go beyond home. 1896 G. B. Shaw in Sat. Rev. 6 June 575/2 Mrs Campbell's attempt at Magda is the merest *baby-play in comparison with that performance. |
| 1634 J. Horne Janua Ling. 123 *Baby-sellers [nugivendi] boast and speak proudly. |
| 1864 Tennyson Aylmer's F. 186 Tender pink five-beaded *baby-soles. |
| 1864 Realm 15 June 5 Ravines from which Jumna, Indus, and Ganges, yet *baby streams, gush. |
| 1836 F. A. Kemble Let. 1 Mar. in Rec. of Later Life (1882) I. 43 A baby..[is] such an interruption..to any conversation but *baby-talk. 1850 Marg. Fuller Wom. in 19th C. (1862) 311 To talk baby-talk and give shallow accounts of deep things. 1861 M. B. Chesnut Diary 25 Nov. (1949) 162 To me this calm, monotonous baby talk is maddening. 1933 E. A. Robertson Ordinary Families x. 215 ‘Pore ole pussycat!’ Dru would lapse into baby-talk. |
| 1783 Ainsworth Lat. Dict., *Baby things, linamenta ad infantes recèns natos involvendum. |
| 1894 M. Dyan All in Man's Keeping II. x. 183 His youngest sister..had brought her boy with her, for ‘Uncle Dick’ to do a little final *baby-worship. |
g. Passing into
adj. = young; small or diminutive of its kind.
| 1750 H. Walpole Let. 25 Feb. (1903) II. 432 All the geniuses of the age are employed in designing new plans for desserts. The Duke of Newcastle's last was a baby Vauxhall, illuminated with a million of little lamps. 1819 Keats Let. 24 Jan. (1958) II. 36 My modest feathered Pen frizzles like baby roast beef. 1877 Design & Work 1 Dec. 602/2 Gas bags..floating high over their heads, by means of baby screws..and the like. 1878 Ibid. 16 Feb. 199/3 He was surprised at the strength displayed by the baby iron rope. 1899 Daily News 17 Oct. 6/6 [He] decided that her baby-jib must be responsible for the Shamrock's poor pointing. 1908 Findlater Crossriggs iv. 28 She led him out of the nursery... ‘There's a babier baby than Mike,’ she said. 1909 Daily Chron. 12 Oct. 4/4 Baby beef, which is grown so little in this country. 1917 W. P. Ridge Amazing Years vii. 93 One attractive baby grand [piano] that Millwood picked up. 1918 F. A. Forbes Let. in G. L. Sheil Mother F. A. F. (1946) vi. 69, I have in my room a baby rhododendron in full bloom. 1926 Daily Express 30 July 9/5 Imported films for use in ‘baby’ cine-cameras. 1928 Daily Express 11 Oct. 1/1 Wonderful improvement in the ‘baby car’ of seven horse⁓power. 1929 Melody Maker Jan. 15/3 You can't get a harp into a Baby Austin, whereas you can garage an Austin inside a piano. 1961 C. McCullers Clock without Hands xiii. 249 Pounding on middle C of the baby grand piano. 1965 Economist 2 Oct. 70/1 Intensive beef production in the shape of barley beef or ‘baby beef’ started here in 1961. |
2. Special combinations:
baby act U.S., (
a) the act of a baby; (
b) an act or statute for the protection of minors; hence
to plead the baby act, to enter a plea that one is not legally responsible by reason of youth or inexperience; similarly,
to read the baby act;
baby-blue (
orig. U.S.), a light shade of blue;
baby-blue-eyes (
orig. U.S.), the popular name of a plant of any of several species of the
Nemophila family;
baby bonus Canad. colloq., a family allowance;
baby boom colloq., a temporary marked increase in the birth-rate,
spec. one that occurred in the years following the war of 1939-45; the children born at the time of such an increase (
cf. bulge n. 3 f); hence
baby boomer orig. U.S., a person born during the post-war baby boom;
baby-bouncer = baby-jumper;
baby buggy (
N. Amer.),
carriage,
coach (
U.S.), a perambulator;
baby-doll, (
a)
= doll n.1 2; (
b) (
orig. U.S.) a girl or woman who has the youthful and regular good looks characteristic of a doll and an ingenuous disposition;
baby-doll pyjamas, women's pyjamas consisting of a loose-fitting top worn over short trousers; also
baby-doll nightdress;
baby face, (a person with) a babyish face;
baby food, a milk-substitute or a light diet suitable for a baby;
baby-grow: see
Babygro;
baby-house, a doll's house,
also, a toy-house barometer or hygrometer from which little dolls issue to indicate changes of weather;
baby-jumper, a hoop or frame suspended by an elastic attachment, so that a young child secured in it may exercise its limbs;
baby lace (see
quot.);
baby-like a., babyish, infantile,
adv. as a baby does;
baby pig disease, hypoglycæmia of newly-born pigs;
baby powder, a skin powder for babies;
baby-ribbon, narrow ribbon such as that used for babies' clothes;
baby's breath,
babies' breath, the popular name of any of several delicate or sweet-scented plants,
esp. Gypsophila paniculata;
baby's head slang, a steak (and kidney) pudding;
baby show (
orig. U.S.), a baby exhibition with an award for the ‘best’;
baby-sitter, a person engaged to be at hand to look after a young child or children in the absence of the parents; hence
baby-sit v. intr.; also
trans. (chiefly
N. Amer.) with child or children as
obj., and in extended sense, to look after, stay with, or tend (a thing, animal, sick person, etc.); also
fig.;
baby-sitting vbl. n. and ppl. a. (
orig. U.S.);
baby-snatcher joc., a person who enters into an amorous relationship with a much younger member of the opposite sex; hence
baby-snatch v. intr.,
baby-snatching vbl. n.;
baby walker orig. U.S., a device for assisting babies to learn to walk.
| 1837 New Yorker 9 Dec. 593/2 We do not defend the conduct of any man who pleads usury in bar of an honest man, neither would we if he should plead the *baby act, or minority. 1888 Congress. Rec. Aug., App. 440/1 [Mr. S. S. Cox] admits the authorship..but pleads the baby act, and says he was a boy when he wrote it. 1899 ‘Mark Twain’ Man corrupted Hadleyburg (1900) 214 When politicians come out without a blush and read the baby act in this frank way, [etc.]. 1901 Forum Jan. 592 One minute reading the riot act of manly independence, and the next pleading the baby-act of thoughtless irresponsibility. 1904 W. H. Smith Promoters xv. 229 That's business honor, and anything else is the baby act. |
| 1889 Century Mag. Mar. 748/2 The small, square manuscript sewed at the back with worsted of the pale tint known as ‘*baby-blue’. 1922 S. Lewis Babbitt i. 4 Faded baby-blue pyjamas. 1949 A. Wilson Wrong Set 29 Her corn-coloured hair and baby blue eyes. |
| 1887 Overland Monthly Aug. 152/1 Then, if we could have been there, we should have seen the..‘*baby blue eyes’ (nemophila). 1952 A. G. L. Hellyer Sanders' Encycl. Gardening (ed. 22) 325 Nemophila..Menziesii. ‘Baby Blue-Eyes’, white or blue, summer, spreading, California. |
| 1945 D. Dumbrille All this Difference xix. 191 The papers are full of the manpower situation.., conscription..[and] the *Baby Bonus. 1961 [see pogey b]. 1976 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 16 Dec. 1/6 Extra tax on rich to be eliminated; baby bonus to rise. |
| 1941 Life 1 Dec. 73/3 Whatever the reasons, the U.S. *baby boom is bad news for Hitler. 1967 Economist 18 Nov. 731/2 Equally important are the spurts which demographers often cannot foresee: the ‘baby booms’. The results of one such phenomenon—the wave of marriages and births after the last war—will soon be felt in full. 1971 Sci. Amer. July 17/3 The postwar ‘baby boom’ and rapid growth of the economy in the 1950's pushed the population growth rate up to 18.5 percent. 1975 Nature 22 May 287/1 The postwar ‘baby boom’ has now passed through higher education. 1983 Daily Tel. 30 Dec. 12/4 The particular thirst for ‘white knuckle rides’ probably resulted from the baby boom of the early 1960s. |
| 1974 Time 21 Jan. 57/2 ‘We’—the *baby boomers—had the schools, the attention of the media, [etc.]. 1986 Observer 5 Jan. 10/3 They are stressing the importance of the baby-boomers, roughly the generation now over 25 and under 40. |
| 1968 Times 11 Mar. 11/2, I have him in the *baby bouncer while I'm practising. |
| 1890 Dialect Notes I. 411 *Baby buggy. 1911 Daily Colonist (Victoria, B.C.) 30 Apr. 4/4 Your baby buggy..is on our fourth floor. 1934 J. T. Farrell Young Manhood in Studs Lonigan (1936) 172 He..walked past the baby-buggy where young Horn had left his baby brother. |
| 1866 Leisure Hour 2 June 348/1 The specification was not such as to prevent various modifications of three-wheeled *baby-carriages. 1870 L. M. Alcott Old-Fashioned Girl (1874) xiii. 215 A young girl pushing a baby-carriage. 1903 Sun (N.Y.) 3 Nov. 7 It gave a chance for a lot of jokes which were so distinctively British that a baby carriage was called a ‘perambulator’. 1909 Eaton & Underhill Runaway Place 155 To their astonished eyes, he seemed to slip directly through a baby carriage. |
| 1903 N.Y. Times 1 Oct. 3 English *baby coaches... The carriages are a distinctly English idea—they dub them ‘Perambulators’. |
| a 1862 Mrs. Nesbit Let. in D. Langley Moore E. Nesbit (1933) ii. 26, I shall bring you a *Baby doll... It has blue Eyes and flaxen hair and is dressed like a little baby in long clothes. 1893 ‘Sarah Grand’ Heavenly Twins II. iii. x. 96 It was a huge wax baby-doll, considerably battered. 1946 T. Williams 27 Wagons 11, I fell in love with this baby-doll. 1962 Guardian 8 July 16/6 The serious baby-doll face suddenly broke into laughter. 1957 Punch 27 Mar. 418/3 The Keystone ‘*Baby Doll’ nightdress..is barely knee-length, and has a scooped neckline trimmed with angel lace and baby ribbon. There are also ‘*Baby Doll’ pyjamas: gossamer jacket just covering, but no more, the brief puff panties. 1959 Listener 2 July 35/1 The girl..appeared curled up in Baby Doll pyjamas. 1967 J. Wainwright Talent for Murder 44 She was wearing a grimy, ‘Baby Doll’ nightdress. |
| a 1700 Evelyn Diary 4 Nov. an. 1670 (1955) III. 564 That famed beauty (but in my opinion of a childish simple & *baby face) Madamoiselle Quirreval. 1713 Baby face [see baby n. B. 1 d]. 1888 A. C. Gunter Mr. Potter of Texas xxiii. 268 ‘That was before her baby face came between us!’ cries her ladyship, hoarsely. 1926 D. H. Lawrence Plumed Serpent ii. 48 Mrs. Burlap had hitched herself on to Kate, and from her silly, social baby-face was emitting searching questions. Ibid. 50 The couple from the Middle-West, that withered baby-face and that limping Judge. |
| 1897 Sears, Roebuck Catal. 28/2 *Baby Foods. 1939 Jrnl. Amer. Med. Assoc. 4 Mar. 843/2 Libby's Homogenized Baby Foods are..suitable for use particularly during the early months of infancy. 1946 Nutrition & Child Welfare Oct. 6/2 There are three types of baby food. |
| 1726 Swift Gulliver I. ii. iii. 55 The Furniture of a *Baby-house. 1750 H. Walpole Lett. H. Mann 218 II. 359 The Prince is building baby-houses at Kew. 1779 Mackenzie in Mirror No. 21 ¶2 The little Dutch barometers, known by the name of Babyhouses. 1801 M. Edgeworth Good Fr. Gov. (1831) 107, I see neither..dressed dolls, nor baby-houses. 1861 Mrs. Stowe Pearl of Orr's Isl. I. xii. 106 Mara and Sally..were revelling in apronsful of shells and seaweed, which they bustled into the other room to bestow in their spacious baby-house. |
| 1848 Ann. Rep. Comm. Patents 1847 (U.S.) 47 Exercising machines, under the appellation of swings, *baby-jumpers, &c. 1849 J. R. Planché in Extravaganzas (1879) III. 290 Up and down leaping, My heart is keeping, like a baby jumper—that invention new. 1872 N.Y. Times 24 Apr. 8 Advt. (Hoppe), Cradle, Baby-Jumper and Nursery Chair Combined. |
| 1882 Caulfeild & Saward Dict. Needlework, *Baby Lace, an English pillow lace, formerly made in Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire, and called English Lille... The name Baby Lace was given as, on account of the narrow width of the lace, it was chiefly used for trimming babies' caps. |
| 1803 Edin. Rev. II. 141 *Baby-like caprice. 1858 Gen. P. Thompson Audi Alt. I. xxx. 116 If a man sees his child gored to death..does he say baby-like, ‘O naughty oxen!’ |
| 1942 L. L. Madsen in Yearbk. Agric. (U.S. Dept. Agric.) 825 (heading) Acute Hypoglycemia in Newborn Pigs, or So-Called *Baby Pig Disease. 1960 Farmer & Stockbreeder 9 Feb. 102/1 Treatment of ‘Baby Pig Disease’... All the piglings in the affected litter should without delay be given glucose by mouth. |
| 1897 Sears, Roebuck Catal. 6th page after p. 32, Borated Talcum *Baby Powder. 1914 G. Atherton Perch of Devil i. 63 It was ordinary ‘baby powder’ for the bath. |
| 1893 Cassell's Fam. Mag. Feb. 175/1 Various ways in which skilful fingers can utilise the *baby ribbons. 1906 Westm. Gaz. 28 Apr. 14/1 Baby-ribbon velvet. 1909 Daily Chron. 1 June 7/5 A sandwich which was tied up with pink baby-ribbon. |
| 1897 C. A. Creevey Flowers of Field, Hill & Swamp viii. 272 Grape hyacinth. *Baby's breath. Muscari botryoides. 1938 Word Study Dec. 4 New flowers are weeds whose names the florists have changed; ‘baby's breath’ is the old ‘flowering spurge’. |
| 1905 Daily Chron. 5 Sept. 4/7 ‘A *baby's head and two veg.’.. The grubby waitress..brings steak pudding with potatoes and greens as trimmings. 1967 K. Giles Death in Diamonds v. 88 He went to the counter and ordered kidney soup and a baby's head and chips. |
| 1854 Chambers's Jrnl. 30 Dec. 419/2 *Baby-shows have taken place in one or two western localities. 1855 Family Economist Nov. 160 The stupidest exhibitions lately heard of, are the Baby-show, now being got up in this country, in foolish imitation of the same foolish thing in America. 1930 ‘R. Crompton’ Wm's Happy Days viii. 166 Oughter be in a baby show. 1967 Guardian 5 Aug. 12/8 The judging of the Baby Show had been completed. |
| 1947 in Amer. Speech (1949) XXIV. 72 Offer to ‘*baby sit’ with her little boy. 1950 Punch 15 Mar. 292/2 Well, this is the last Monday I baby-sit for the McClouds. 1972 Evening Telegram (St. John's, Newfoundland) 23 June 20/5 (Advt.), Wanted, a young woman to baby-sit a four-year-old boy. Ibid. 24 June 11/6 It could become a pretty costly operation to baby sit their gear, even if it is properly marked. 1973 Philadelphia Inquirer (Today Suppl.) 7 Oct. 26/3 He baby-sat me through about a thirty day period, literally. I was weak as a new-born kid. 1976 Billings (Montana) Gaz. 30 June 4-d/5 The commissioner said he hopes for better results in the fall, adding: ‘We're getting to the point where we feel we can only babysit them for so long.’ 1986 New Yorker 8 Sept. 40/3 Bridie felt in her purse..and found..a toy whirligig she saved for times when she babysat the kids of some of her parents' clients. |
| 1937 C. R. Walker American City 230 There are two high-school girls in the neighborhood who hire out for twenty-five cents an evening as ‘*baby sitters’ when the family wants to go to the movies. 1951 Times 18 Dec. 5/4 Everybody knows what a baby-sitter is supposed to do (though, curiously enough, hardly anybody except the baby ever sees her do it). |
| 1947 Richmond (Virginia) Times-Dispatch 4 Mar. 4/2 The Cavalier *Baby-Sitting Association, recently organized at the University of Virginia. 1949 New Yorker 5 Mar. 24/3 Baby-sitting having become firmly established, it was only a question of time before somebody offered to provide a similar service for dogs. 1951 Punch 4 Apr. 421/3 Undoubtedly one of the worst features of the baby-sitting age is the coy handing over of the fee. 1958 Spectator 22 Aug. 248/3 Car-owning miners and baby-sitting scholars. |
| 1911 ‘I. Hay’ Safety Match xiv. 225 She comes trapesin' about here with a collection of middle-aged *baby-snatchers. 1930 V. Sackville-West Edwardians v. 199 You don't imagine that he really cared about that baby-snatcher? Good gracious me, he was a year old when her daughter was born. 1933 M. Allingham Sweet Danger vii. 85, I meant the elder sister. You aren't *baby-snatching, I hope, Wright? 1939 ‘N. Blake’ Smiler with Knife iv. 71, I don't approve of baby-snatching. |
| 1856 Michigan Agric. Soc. Trans. VII. 81 Wm. Phelps..[exhibited] 1 *baby walker. 1967–8 Catal. Galt Toys 7 Galt baby walker... Designed so as not to tip up when the baby, first learning to walk, pulls himself up on the handle. |
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baby alarm n. a device or system which enables a person to monitor a baby or young child (typically for sounds of distress) from another room; (now)
spec. a one-way intercom system from the child's room to another, a baby monitor.
| 1895 Landmark (Statesville, N.C.) (Electronic text) 27 Aug. The ‘*baby alarm’ is the newest thing in electric household appliances. Near the cradle or cot is placed a sensitive microphone... The child's crying starts a bell a-ringing in any part of the house desired. 1959 Times 10 Aug. 11/2 Baby alarms can be fitted to relay sounds of distress. 2003 K. Cann Escape x. 75 Come up here anytime you like... You can bring the baby alarm if Flossy's in bed. |
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baby book n. (a) a book designed for babies or young children;
(b) a book containing advice for new or prospective parents;
(c) a book in which mementoes of a child's infancy are kept.
| 1874 Appletons' Jrnl. 26 Dec. 821/3 The French have what we may call *baby-books in fair abundance, but of books for a girl or boy from ten to sixteen there is woful dearth. 1957 A. Thwaite Home Truths 60 Still she cries and cries In rage, mindlessly. A trivial anguish, found In every baby-book. 1959E. M. Borghese Twin's Wail in A. Pohl Star Fourteen (1966) 74 Dad kept talking about him and mother, and there were pictures and the baby book. 1963 M. Abdullah & R. Mayhew in B. James Austral. Short Stories 311 This is the baby-book. I am reading how to look after the baby. 1994 Today's Parent Oct. 37 (advt.) Our exclusive 40-page hardcover ‘Baby Book’ to capture the precious moments to come and cherish in the future. 1996 Times (Electronic ed.) 26 Apr. Cassie..became bored in reception class after being forced to read baby books. |
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baby bust n.>
n.3, after
baby boom n. at Compounds 2
orig. and chiefly
U.S. a period of marked decrease in the birth rate;
spec. (
esp. in the United States) the years
c 1965–75, following the post-war baby boom.
| 1970 Jrnl. Econ. Hist. 30 271 This period of the ‘baby boom’ was followed in the sixties by a ‘*baby bust’ which saw the birth rate plunge to its lowest level in United States history. 1990 Fortune 15 Jan. 25/1 The baby bust is a demographic certainty. Starting now in Japan, soon in Western Europe, and a little later in the U.S., the pool of new labor will begin shrinking. 2000 Wall St. Jrnl. 1 Jan. 5/4 We saw signs that the baby bust would soon abate. ‘Some experts’, we noted, ‘detect a slight rise in the birth rate in California’—which turned out to be the echo of the baby boom. |
baby buster n. a person born during a baby bust.
| 1985 N.Y. Times 28 Apr. 11 cn3/1 The reduced number of children per family and the loss of population to the Southwest has turned the baby-boomers of the '60's into the *baby-busters of the '80's. 1997 Maclean's 29 Dec. 17/1 The 18-to 29-year-old baby busters (so-called because there are relatively few of them, squeezed between the boomers and the boomers' children, the so-called echo boom, now aged 4 to 17). |
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baby-daddy n. colloq. (chiefly in African-American usage)
= baby-father n. at Additions.
| 1993 Independent 1 Dec. 35/5 Her ‘*baby-daddy’—the father of her child—had been stabbed. 2003 A. Valdes-Rodriguez Dirty Girls Social Club 55 They ask me to give shout outs to their baby daddies. |
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baby fat n. orig. U.S. (a) Agric. the fat on a young animal,
esp. one raised for meat;
(b) the (excess) body fat a person may acquire as a baby or child, usually perceived as something which is outgrown;
cf. puppy fat n. at
puppy n. Compounds 2;
(c) the (excess) body fat a mother may acquire during pregnancy.
| 1899 Daily Rev. (Decatur, Illinois) (Electronic text) 25 Jan. There is what feeders call *baby fat in calves. If they get that and retain it until they grow up they never seem to make good dairy cows. 1934 Lowell (Mass.) Sun 23 May 6/4 She says the weight was ‘baby fat’ and that she lost it without dieting. 1947 M. A. Jull Raising Turkeys xi. 382 Market them as soon as they are ready, or they lose their baby fat and the flesh begins to get hard. 1988 Los Angeles Times (Electronic ed.) 12 July 1 A mother most likely to hold onto ‘baby fat’ has lower-body obesity. 1991 C. Eddy Stairway to Hell 211/1 The drummer's fourteen and still has baby fat. 2004 Daily Star (Nexis) 31 Aug. 25 [She] is fast shedding her baby fat after giving birth to daughter Apple in May. |
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baby-father n. (
orig. Caribbean and in British Afro-Caribbean usage) the father of a woman's child, who is not her husband or (in most cases) her current or exclusive partner.
| 1978 Sunday Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica) 5 Mar. 9/2 The true relationship must be based on *baby-father taking his true place in the home and among the community. 1998 Guardian 11 Sept. (Friday Rev. section) 11/2 Among Britons of West Indian origin, a man refers to a woman as his babymother when she has borne his child out of wedlock. He is her babyfather. |
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baby grand n. the smallest size of grand piano; also more fully
baby grand piano (
cf. grand piano n. at
grand adj. and
n. Compounds 2).
| 1879 Morning Oregonian (Portland, Oregon) (Electronic text) 21 Nov. Coming—Weber's *Baby Grand. 1961 C. McCullers Clock without Hands xiii. 249 Pounding on middle C of the baby grand piano. 2005 Blink Feb. 31 My fondest memory of Moss is him playing on a baby grand at his house. |
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baby listening n. a service or facility in a hotel, etc., enabling a guest to monitor remotely a baby or young child (typically for sounds of distress) in his or her room;
freq. attrib.;
cf. baby alarm n. at Additions.
| 1961 Winnipeg Free Press 14 Jan. 9/5, I would recommend it for families as it is ideal for children, with playground, games room, cots, high chairs, *baby-listening devices in bedrooms, etc. 1996 H. Marks Mr Nice (1998) vii. 178 The hotel provided a baby-listening service, and she was going to join me at the bar before we had dinner. 2006 Sunday Times (Nexis) 6 Apr. (Travel section) 28 There's a heated indoor pool, tennis, a kids' club, creche, an adventure playground and baby-listening. |
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baby-mama n. (also
baby-mamma)
colloq. (chiefly in African-American usage)
= baby-mother n. at Additions.
| 1986 Toronto Star (Nexis) 23 Mar. f3 Songs that promoted racial tolerance..and the dignity of women (‘Hush *Baby Mama’). 2003 N.Y. Times (National ed.) 5 Oct. ii. 31/2 It was a crossover hit, thanks to ‘Ms. Jackson’, a conflicted ode to baby-mamas. |
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baby monitor n. (a) Med. a device which measures the vital signs of an ill baby or child;
(b) an intercom system which enables a person to monitor a baby or young child (typically for sounds of distress) from another room.
| 1970 Daily News (Red Bluff, Calif.) 15 July 10/3 (headline) St. Elizabeth buys *baby monitors with donations from residents. 1985 News (Frederick, Maryland) 20 Nov. (Sears advt. section) 12/1 $5 off baby monitor. 2005 FQ July–Aug. 100/2 Baby monitors are fine at home, but with a range of 50m or so they're not much use when your hotel room is ten floors above the bar, or when you're out and about. |
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baby-mother n. (
orig. Caribbean and in British Afro-Caribbean usage) the mother of a man's child, who is not his wife nor (in most cases) his current or exclusive partner.
| 1966 Daily Gleaner (Kingston, Jamaica) 11 Dec. (Mag.) 4 Two girls have three children for him. One *baby-mother is in America and the other is in the country. 2001 Touch Dec. 112/2 Jody..is 20 years old, lives at home with his mum.., doesn't have a job and his two babymothers Yvette..and Peanut..are always on his case. |
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baby oil n. a preparation of scented mineral oil, used
esp. to moisturize the delicate skin of babies.
| 1930 Vidette-Messenger (Valparaiso, Indiana) 17 Apr. 8/3 (advt.) Mennen's *Baby Oil..49c. 1995 Best Wishes Spring–Summer 28/1 Smear a little baby oil on the infant's scalp in the evening. |
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baby shower n. orig. U.S. a party to which the guests bring gifts for an expected (or
occas. newborn) baby;
cf. shower n.1 3b.
| 1902 Post-Standard (Syracuse, N.Y.) 10 Nov. 2/5 (advt.) Baby toilet articles and toys and many things suitable for gifts at the newly instituted ‘*baby showers’. 1911 Indiana (Pa.) Evening Gaz. 17 Apr. 1/2 The ladies of the Baptist church gave a surprise ‘baby shower’ in honor of..the new son of Mr. and Mrs. B. D. McMillen, at their home. 1952 North Eastern Reporter (2nd Ser.) 106 732 The plaintiff, who was pregnant, attended a baby shower given for her at [the] defendant's restaurant. 2006 St. John's (Newfoundland) Telegram (Nexis) 22 Apr. b6 My sister-in-law does not have any sisters or close friends who will throw her a baby shower. |
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baby step n. chiefly
fig. a (first) small step.
| 1849 Liberator 17 Aug. 131/1 What is despotism? It is the *baby step of civilization. 1884 Galveston (Texas) Daily News (Electronic text) 6 Mar. The late attempted revision by the last Congress was only a ‘baby step’ in the right direction. 1965 Accounting Rev. 40 331/1 A change in accounting practice will be gradual, a baby-step that must be supported forcefully. 1994 J. Kelman How Late it Was 334 He got up off the bed and took four babysteps forwards. 2006 Time Out N.Y. 12 Jan. 11/2 For a long time, this country was..moving toward the right in baby steps. |
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baby T-shirt n. (a) a T-shirt for a baby;
(b) N. Amer. = baby tee n. at Additions.
| 1958 Austin (Texas) Statesman 6 July 17 (advt.) *Baby T-shirts. One pkg. of su-purb will wash 480 T-shirts. 1993 Boston Globe (Nexis) 2 Nov. 61 Klein used more than 200 models..to show his tiny white ‘baby’ T-shirt that leaves a sliver of bare midriff. 2000 Afro-Amer. Red Star (Electronic ed.) 25 Nov. a1 Each new mother will be approached while in the hospital and given a gift basket with a baby T-shirt. 2006 Internat. Herald-Tribune (Nexis) 20 Sept. 24 The..crowd discreetly took in what..[she] was wearing: jeans and a white baby T-shirt emblazoned with a drawing. |
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baby tee n. N. Amer. a small, snugly fitting woman's T-shirt, often cropped to reveal the navel.
| 1976 Lima (Ohio) News 1 Feb. b3 (caption) This spring will focus on the fresh-looking woman in Carol Horn's wrap skirt and blue cotton *baby-tee. 1994 San Francisco Chron. (Nexis) 25 Jan. e7 Urban Outfitters..is expecting a delivery of sheer camo miniskirts, camo-print baby T's and used camouflage pants. 2004 T. N. Baker Sheisty 54, I jumped up and threw on a pair of Gap jeans, a baby tee and a pair of Chanel shoes. |
▪ II. baby, v. (
ˈbeɪbɪ)
[f. prec.] 1. trans.To treat as a baby.
| 1742 Young Nt. Th. vi. 521 It babies us with endless toys. 1865 Mrs. Whitney Gayworthys I. 240, I should like to be made much of, and tended—yes, babied. |
2. intr. To act as if dealing with a baby.
| 1913 G. S. Porter Laddie xi. 340 I'll wager a strong young girl like the Princess will laugh at you for babying over her. |