changeling : Dictionary / Wörterbuch (BEOLINGUS, TU Chemnitz)

English Dictionary: changeling	by the DICT Development Group
3 results for changeling
From WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006) [wn]:
changeling n a person of subnormal intelligence [syn: idiot, imbecile, cretin, moron, changeling, half-wit, retard] a child secretly exchanged for another in infancy
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Changeling \Change"ling\, n. [Change + -ling.] 1. One who, or that which, is left or taken in the place of another, as a child exchanged by fairies. Such, men do changelings call, so changed by fairies' theft. --Spenser. The changeling [a substituted writing] never known. --Shak. 2. A simpleton; an idiot. --Macaulay. Changelings and fools of heaven, and thence shut out. Wildly we roam in discontent about. --Dryden. 3. One apt to change; a waverer. [bd]Fickle changelings.[b8] --Shak.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) [web1913]:
Changeling \Change"ling\, a. 1. Taken or left in place of another; changed. [bd]A little changeling boy.[b8] --Shak. 2. Given to change; inconstant. [Obs.] Some are so studiously changeling. --Boyle.