darling
part of speech
noun (a darling, darlings); adjective (darling)
meaning for a pupil
1) Darling is a loving word for someone you love: «Come here, darling.» tree →
2) A darling is a person who is very loved or favoured: the darling of the crowd. tree →
3) (informal) Darling can mean very sweet or lovely: What a darling little puppy! tree →
4) (UK, informal) Some people, often older, call anyone «darling» to be friendly. tree →
sense in the lessons
In the Tanakh and Jewish tradition: In Jeremiah it means a much-loved child. God speaks of Ephraim this way. Interpretation: Tradition reads this as God's mercy toward the northern tribes, whom He still calls dear even after exile. In the primary lessons: In everyday life parents call children «darling»; in shops in parts of the UK a friendly assistant may say «There you go, darling.» In stories it shows love or tenderness. It tells the reader the speaker cares, or is trying to sound friendly.
examples
- Is Ephraim a darling son unto Me? (Prophets JER.31.20, JPS 1917) tree →
- Goodnight, darling, sleep well. tree →
- Thank you, darling, that's very kind. tree →
- What a darling little kitten! tree →
- She was the darling of the whole school. tree →
- «Mind how you go, darling,» said the lady at the till. tree →
- Grandma calls everyone darling. tree →
- "How darling and beautiful you are!" tree →
note
Used as a way of speaking to someone (like «dear», «love», «sweetheart»). Spelling: darling, not «darlin» (that is how some people say it). Can sound too familiar to strangers in some places.
In the corpora
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «darling» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.