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hinderling. In DICTIOUS you will not only get to know all the dictionary meanings for the word
hinderling, but we will also tell you about its etymology, its characteristics and you will know how to say
hinderling in singular and plural. Everything you need to know about the word
hinderling you have here. The definition of the word
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English
Etymology
"Worthless person" sense: from Middle English hinderling (“a laggard, coward”), from Old English hinderling (“a mean wretch, a sneak”), equivalent to hinder + -ling. Compare hilding.
Noun
hinderling (plural hinderlings)
- (British, dialectal) A worthless, degenerate person or animal.
1808, Joseph Strutt, , “Section VII. Chapter II.”, in , editor, Queenhoo-Hall, a Romance: And Ancient Times, a Drama. In Four Volumes.">…], volume III, Edinburgh: ">…] for John Murray, ; and Archibald Constable & Co. , →OCLC, page 155:How say you, my lusty compeers; shall we permit a hinderlin to sit at board with us, and brand us with the name of cowards?
1813, Joseph Neef, The Method of Instructing Children Rationally in the Arts of Writing and Reading:An animal you deem good for nothing, you may term a hinderling.
1889, John Milton Stearns, The germs and developments of the laws of England: from which the West Saxons, namely the men of Exeter have a saying of the greatest contempt, in that when moved by the highest wrath they call one another a hinderling, that is, one sunk down from all honor.
2010, D. M. Cornish, Factotum:"How? How do I know? Know that you are there or know that you are a rossamünderling? An ouranin? A manikin? A hinderling? A pink-lips? A fake-foe? "
- (dated, in the plural) The buttocks; the posterior.
Old English
Etymology
From By surface analysis, hinder- + -ling (diminutive suffix).
Pronunciation
Noun
hinderling m
- a mean, base, contemptible person
Declension
Strong a-stem:
Descendants
References