darling

Meanings

1. 1
   noun

   Often used as an affectionate term of address: a person who is very dear to one.

   Pass the wine, would you, darling?

2. 2
   noun

   A person who is kind, sweet, etc., and thus lovable; a pet, a sweetheart; also, an animal or thing which is cute and lovable.

   The girl next door picks up all my shopping for me. She is such a darling.

3. 3
   noun

   A favourite.

   And in ſo muche the more peril and haſard of the ſaid diſeaſes [“ambicion, auarice, riottous exceſſe, hatred, enuye, and ſuche others”] do the princes ſtand, as they are more then others made wantons ⁊ derelynges of fortune, and haue lybertie withoute checke or controllemente to fulfyll their owne ſenſuall luſtes and appetites.

4. 4
   adj

   Very dear; beloved, cherished, favourite.

   She is my darling wife of twenty-two years.

5. 5
   adj

   Very cute or lovable; adorable, charming, sweet.

   Well, isn’t that a darling little outfit she has on?

6. 6
   verb

   To call (someone) "darling" (noun sense 1).

   The frisky female, we have noticed, has one most unpleasant trick; it is that of darlinging and duckeying and otherwise spooneying her husband … in public. He is invariably, invariably set down as an ass, without its being in the least his fault.

7. 7
   name

   An English and Scottish surname transferred from the nickname, originally a nickname from darling.

   Richard and David Darling, founders of Codemasters, a multimillion-pound computer game company, dropped out of school aged 15 and 16 to write computer games […]

8. 8
   adj

   dearly loved

Etymology

The noun is derived from Middle English dereling, derelyng (“beloved person; beloved of God, devout Christian”), from Old English dīerling, dēorling (“favourite, darling; minion”), from Proto-West Germanic *diuriling, from Proto-Germanic *diurijalingaz, from *diurijaz (“beloved, dear; expensive”) (further etymology uncertain, possibly from Proto-Indo-European *dʰegʷʰ- (“hot, warm; to burn”), or *dweh₂- (“distant, long; to remove, separate”)) + *-ilingaz (suffix forming (diminutive) nouns with the sense of ‘belonging to; coming from’). By surface analysis, dear + -ling (suffix meaning ‘immature…