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Definition of Changeling
1. Noun. A person of subnormal intelligence.
Specialized synonyms: Mongoloid
Generic synonyms: Simple, Simpleton
Derivative terms: Cretinous, Idiotic, Imbecilic, Moronic, Retard
2. Noun. A child secretly exchanged for another in infancy.
Definition of Changeling
1. n. One who, or that which, is left or taken in the place of another, as a child exchanged by fairies.
2. a. Taken or left in place of another; changed.
Definition of Changeling
1. Noun. (mythology) In British, Irish and Scandinavian mythology, an infant of a fairy, sprite or troll that the creature has secretly exchanged for a human infant. ¹
2. Noun. (informal rare) An infant secretly exchanged with another infant. ¹
3. Noun. (science fiction and fantasy) An organism which can change shape to mimic others. ¹
¹ Source: wiktionary.com
Definition of Changeling
1. [n -S]
Lexicographical Neighbors of Changeling
Literary usage of Changeling
Below you will find example usage of this term as found in modern and/or classical literature:
1. Scandinavian Folk-lore: Illustrations of the Traditional Beliefs of the by William Alexander Craigie (1896)
"The changeling and the Egg-shell. A WOMAN'S child was once changed by the troll-folk,
... She should first try whether the child was really a changeling, ..."
2. Representative English Plays: From the Middle Ages to the End of the by John Strong Perry Tatlock, Robert Grant Martin (1916)
"1(116) and The changeling (1023). By 1014 Middleton had written most of the ...
But it is in the romantic tragedy, The changeling, of the same class as ..."
3. A Manual for the Collector and Amateur of Old English Plays by William Carew Hazlitt (1892)
"Under date of January 23, 1660-1, Pepys says : " To the Playhouse, and there saw
the changeling, the first time it hath been acted these twenty years, ..."
4. The Fairy Mythology: Illustrative of the Romance and Superstition of Various by Thomas Keightley (1905)
"The changeling has nothing peculiar in it ; but the Brewery of Eggshells is one
which we find in many places, even in Brittany and Auvergne. ..."
5. American Book Prices Current by Katherine Kyes Leab, Daniel J Leab (1908)
"The changeling. First edition. Lond., 1653. 410. Unbd. (some headlines shaved),
Howland, A., Nov. 15, '07. (418) $5.00. Unbd. (apparently preceding copy), ..."
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