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bairnly. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
bairnly, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
bairnly in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
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English
Etymology
From bairn + -ly.
Adjective
bairnly (comparative more bairnly, superlative most bairnly)
- (Scotland, rare) Bairnlike; childish.
1813, Allan Cunningham, “The Rosie Cheek”, in Songs: Chiefly in the Rural Language of Scotland, verse 3, page 50:Woman thour't but a bairnlie playke, / Wi' nought but beauty's blossom; / But, thour't a flow'r of heavenly pow'r, / Wi' pity in thy bosom:
1822, John Galt, chapter 5, in Sir Andrew Wylie, of That Ilk, volume 1, page 36:Andrew examined the wounded part, and declared it was just a flea bite. "It's a wee red," said he, "and before half an hour's bye ye'll ne'er fin't. Man, Charlie, it's bairnly to make sic a wark for a bit tig on the haffet […] "
1893, Robert Louis Stevenson, David Balfour, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, published 1905, page 301:"So she will be, indeed!" says Catriona. "But I will never forgive her for all that. I will never, never forgive her, and let me hear tell of her no more."
"Well," said I, "this beats all that ever came to my knowledge; and I wonder that you can indulge yourself in such bairnly whims. Here is a young lady that was the best friend in the world to the both of us, that learned us how to dress ourselves, and in a great manner how to behave, as anyone can see that knew us both before and after."
1894, Ian Maclaren, “A Wise Woman”, in Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush:There wes nae thocht worth mentionin', and onything he hed wes eked oot by repeetition. Tae sae naethin' o' bairnly stories.
1896, P Hay Hunter, James Inwick: Ploughman and Elder, pages 161–162:I canna tell ye hoo it was, but that was the kind o' feelin that cam ower we—that it wad be a bairnly-like thing, an' a cooardly-like thing forby, no' to gae in wi' the lave, an' record my vote eithor on the tae side or the tither. Ye can respec' a man wha taks the wrang side, sae lang as he believes it richt; but hoo can ye respec' a man wha refüses to tak ony side […]
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