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noun

Changeling n.

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." "The changeling (a substituted writing) never known."

A simpleton; an idiot. "Changelings and fools of heaven, and thence shut out." "Wildly we roam in discontent about."

One apt to change; a waverer. "Fickle changelings."

adjective

Changeling adj.

Taken or left in place of another; changed. "A little changeling boy."

Given to change; inconstant. (Obs.) "Some are so studiously changeling."

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Etymology of 'Changeling'

Collaborative International Dictionary of English 0.48

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"Changeling" Quotes from Famous Books

... a kind of duty; but one I wanted to get out of. (Pause.) I've another secret. It's whispered in the family that I'm a changeling. ...

— The Road to Damascus - A Trilogy • August Strindberg

... both mother and daughter were weeping. He looked at them with a wondering stare; and then, as if he felt he had been harsh, he flew again to his Familiar. And now you thought you heard the lullaby which a fairy might sing to some fretful changeling it had adopted and sought to soothe. Liquid, low, silvery, streamed the tones beneath the enchanted bow. The most stubborn grief would have paused to hear; and withal, at times, out came a wild, merry, ringing note, like a laugh, but not mortal laughter. It was one of his most successful ...

— Zanoni • Edward Bulwer Lytton

... One wants to kiss the baby, and bends over the cradle. Suddenly he starts back. What a nose! The deceit is found out and the shepherds are very angry. Yet even in their anger they can hardly help laughing. Mak and Gill, however, are ready of wit. They will not own to the theft. It is a changeling child, they say. ...

— English Literature For Boys And Girls • H.E. Marshall

... happiness of the father was made by the child's taking the downward road. "At a later day," says Motley, "when the unfortunate eldest son of Orange returned from Spain, after twenty-seven years' absence, a changeling and a Spaniard, the restoration of those very estates was offered to him by Philip II., provided he would continue to pay a fixed proportion of their rents to the family of his father's murderer. The education which ...

— The Atlantic Monthly, Volume 16, No. 93, July, 1865 • Various

... of mine, madam. Rather do I believe her some changeling forced upon us by witches' craft. Never did Stafford betray trust before! Stay me not! Whether child or changeling yet still shall ...

— In Doublet and Hose - A Story for Girls • Lucy Foster Madison

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