little boyn.adj.

a1475 Friar & Boy (Brogyntyn) in J. O. Halliwell Early Eng. Misc. (1855) 48 (MED) ‘To the fylde schalle go the chyld’..Furthe than went the lytelle boy.

?1532 Tales & Quicke Answeres lix. sig. F.iij^v An olde man on a tyme, and a lyttell boye his sonne droue a litel asse before them.

1576 G. Gascoigne Complaynt of Phylomene in Steele Glas sig. O.iij (Tygrelike) she toke The little boy.

1602 Bp. M. Smith Learned Serm. Worcester 2 There was pictured a little boy, to signifie generation, and an old man to signifie corruption.

1653 H. Cogan tr. F. M. Pinto Voy. & Adventures xxix. 115 The lot fell still on a little Boy of seven years of age.

1720 D. Defoe Life Capt. Singleton 1 I was a little Boy, of about two Years old,..had a Nursery Maid to tend me.

1765 D. Franklin Let. 13 Oct. in L. W. Labaree Papers of Benjamin Franklin (1968) XII. 305 [H]e sends his Duty to you as Dose all the little Boys and gorles.

1828 M. M. Sherwood Poor Burruff (ed. 2) 15 I hope that all the little boys who read this, may learn thereby how lovely it is to be kind to dumb creatures.

1878 R. B. Smyth Aborigines Victoria I. 247 One woman had a fine little boy at her back, in her 'possum rug.

1920 Amer. Woman Aug. 19/2 The little boy's suit-pattern..is cut in sizes for 1, 2 and 4 years.

1954 N. Coward Diary 24 Dec. (2000) 249 Oh how nice it would be..to be a little boy of five instead of an ageing playwright of fifty-five.

2012 T. Wolfe Back to Blood iv. 121 He had loved pastelitos since he was a little boy.

1553 T. Wilson Arte of Rhetorique f. 31 Your moste faire wife, shall make you a father, in bringyng furthe a faire childe vnto you, where you shall haue a pretie litle boye, runnyng vp and doune youre house.

1665 J. Evelyn Let. 4 Apr. in Diary & Corr. (1852) III. 154 My little boy..is now susceptible of instruction.

1706 G. Farquhar Recruiting Officer ii. 15 My little Boy! Lack-a-day, Madam, that alone may convince you 'twas none of mine.

1752 H. Fielding Amelia II. vi. iii. 199 I..brought my Friend and her little Boy immediately away to my own House.

1804 W. Holland Diary in Paupers & Pig Killers (1984) 96 After breakfast my Little Boy..went off like a Hero to School.

1848 W. M. Thackeray Vanity Fair lvii. 515 Her little boy sate by her side in pompous new sables.

1892 ‘F. Anstey’ Voces Populi 2nd Ser. 155 Will you tell your little boy to set down, please?

1947 D. Thomas Let. 5 June (1987) 639 On Sundays, a family from Florence come out for the day with their two little boys.

2003 K. Baker They don't play Hockey in Heaven 130 She has two little boys, eleven and seven.

1843 H. B. Stowe Mayflower 220 Marbles, and hoops, and skates, and all sorts of little-boy matters.

1847 W. M. Thackeray Vanity Fair (1848) v. 39 Out of the little-boy class into the middle-sized form.

1915 C. Farwell in Child Welfare Man. (Univ. Soc., N.Y.) I. 253/1 The transition from the straight bishop ‘baby’ dress to the ‘little boy’ dress is usually a hard one for the young mother.

1930 D. H. Lawrence Assorted Articles 42 Men..spend years training up the little-boy-baby-face type, till they've got her perfect. Then the moment they marry her, they want something else.

1951 M. McLuhan Mech. Bride 68/2 The male tends to assume the little-boy role.

1997 E. Hand Glimmering iii. xiii. 265 Trip's face scrunched into that little-boy scowl of concentration.

1957 Numbers 7 4 The strand of dark hair..made him appear slightly dishevelled and rather little-boy-lost.

1961 J. Pudney Thin Air viii. 95 The-little-boy-lost look..which..brought out the mother in most women.

1989 J. Le Vay Margaret Anglin xi. 231 It was the little-boy-lost, waif quality in the slim, attractive Kester that most appealed to M.A.

2004 Gay Times Feb. 85/3 His cute, floppy fringe, come-to-bed eyes, and little-boy-lost expression.

1934 Liberty 18 Aug. 40/2 He accidentally locked himself in the ca—in the little boys' room.

1938 Princeton Alumni Weekly 25 Nov. 209/1 The first [cartoon], representing a very young chap seeking directions to the little boys' room in the Metropolitan Museum, prompted the management to frame it and hang it in the aforesaid room.

1957 A. Wilson Bit off Map & Other Stories 145 ‘Hullo,’ said Sylvia, ‘I expected Victor.’ ‘He's gone to the little boy's room,’ said the girl. ‘He'll be back in a jiffy.’

1973 M. Woodhouse Blue Bone ii. 15 Rodway pulled up in a lay-by. ‘All out for the little boys' room,’ he said.

2006 C. Langston Bicoastal Babe xx. 193 Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to snort a few lines in the little boys' room.

1840 Era 19 Jan. 204/3 As for the poor, state, dirty, little-boyish, or little-girlish farce of the Royal Speech, it is hardly deserving of notice.

1897 D. S. Jordan Matka & Kotik 43 The water washed away all his black hairs, leaving him all over a soft, silvery gray—‘just like Atagh’, he said in his little boyish pride.

1955 E. Blishen Roaring Boys iv. 182 Two faces, well-washed and little-boyish.

2010 A. Murray Soldier Girl v. 37 Sometimes his watery blue eyes looked so little-boyish, he really touched Molly's heart.