babyfyv.
/ˈbeɪbɪfʌɪ/, U.S. /ˈbeɪbiˌfaɪ/ transitive. To make babyish or childlike; (also) to treat as a baby (cf. baby v. 1).
ΚΠ
a1631 G. Harvey Marginalia (1913) 189 Neuer lullabyed, or babyfied.
1874 J. A. Mathews Our Four Boys xi, in Dare to do Right 271 He had to pet and babify him a little, for he did not know how else to testify his joy.
1891 S. J. Duncan Amer. Girl in London ii. 15 Good old-fashioned names, like Nancy and Betsy, that couldn't be babified.
1907 Educ. Bi-monthly Oct. 86 Æsop's Fables being babyfied beyond recognition.
1914 R. Burton How to see Play ix. 160 A young wife has been babified by her husband.
1952 Jrnl. Criminal Law, Criminol., & Police Sci. 43 161 I always told her she ‘babified’ me. She never let me play sports when I was small, she was afraid I'd get hurt.
2007 ‘Noire’ Thong on Fire iii. 40 After Paris died she had totally babyfied Kaz.
Derivatives
ˈbabyfied adj. having or characterized by the attributes of a baby; (also) made babyish or childlike.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > person > baby or infant > [adjective] > having character of
infantile1772
babyfied1862
1862 M. E. Braddon Lady Audley's Secret xviii, in Sixpenny Mag. 1 June 196/1 She looked a childish, helpless, babyfied little creature.
1968 Eng. Jrnl. 57 103/1 They [sc. the students] were now to regress rhetorically: to convert this well-written composition into what they imagined was its original structure: choppy, babified sentences.
1992 A. Maupin Maybe the Moon i. 4 Renee's a little broader in the beam than Melanie, and her features are less delicate, but the general effect of soft, pink, babyfied sweetness is pretty much the same.
This entry has been updated (OED Third Edition, June 2011; most recently modified version published online December 2021).
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