Changeling

4 definitions found

From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  Changeling \Change"ling\, a.
     1. Taken or left in place of another; changed. "A little
        changeling boy." --Shak.
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     2. Given to change; inconstant. [Obs.]


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              Some are so studiously changeling.    --Boyle.
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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48 [gcide]:

  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.
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              Such, men do changelings call, so changed by
              fairies' theft.                       --Spenser.
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              The changeling [a substituted writing] never known.
                                                    --Shak.
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     2. A simpleton; an idiot. --Macaulay.
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              Changelings and fools of heaven, and thence shut
              out.
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              Wildly we roam in discontent about. --Dryden.
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     3. One apt to change; a waverer. "Fickle changelings."
        --Shak.
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From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:

  changeling
       n 1: a person of subnormal intelligence [syn: {idiot}, {imbecile},
             {cretin}, {moron}, {half-wit}, {retard}]
       2: a child secretly exchanged for another in infancy

From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:

  58 Moby Thesaurus words for "changeling":
     agent, alternate, alternative, analogy, backup, change, comparison,
     copy, counterfeit, deputy, double, dummy, elf child, equal,
     equivalent, ersatz, exchange, fake, fill-in, ghost, ghostwriter,
     imitation, locum tenens, makeshift, metaphor, metonymy,
     next best thing, personnel, phony, pinch hitter, proxy, relief,
     replacement, representative, reserves, ringer, second string,
     secondary, sign, spares, stand-in, sub, substituent, substitute,
     substitution, succedaneum, superseder, supplanter, surrogate,
     symbol, synecdoche, third string, token, understudy,
     utility player, vicar, vice-president, vice-regent