tenderling

English

Etymology

tender +‎ -ling

Noun

tenderling (plural tenderlings)

1. (archaic) One made tender by too much kindness; a fondling.
   • 1586, William Harrison, The Description of England:

     Now […] have we many chimnies, and yet our tenderlings complain of rheums, catarrhs, and poses.

2. (zoology) One of the first antlers of a deer.

Synonyms

• (one made tender): nestle-cock, sissy, wuss; see also Thesaurus:milksop

Part or all of this entry has been imported from the 1913 edition of Webster’s Dictionary, which is now free of copyright and hence in the public domain. The imported definitions may be significantly out of date, and any more recent senses may be completely missing.
(See the entry for “tenderling”, in Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913, →OCLC.)