shavelingn.adj.
/ˈʃeɪvlɪŋ/, U.S. /ˈʃeɪvlɪŋ/ A. n.
1.
a. A contemptuous epithet for a tonsured ecclesiastic. (Very common in 16th and 17th centuries.)
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > worship > cleanness (ceremonial) > tonsure > [noun] > one who is tonsured
shaveling1529
pilpate1530
shorling?1548
1529 J. Frith Pistle Christen Reader lii. sig. Mviii The Pope sayeth..I excommunicate all them that aske eny toll or trybute of me and my shavelinges.
a1578 R. Lindsay Hist. & Cron. Scotl. (1899) I. 385 Monkis and freiris witht all the rest of scawelingis.
1647 J. Trapp Comm. Epist. & Rev. (1 Tim. v. 1) Ierk him not as..the Bishops and their shavelings did Henry the 2. of England, till the bloud followed.
1824 Ld. Byron Deformed Transformed ii. iii Cleave yon bald-pated shaveling to the chine!
1884 Ld. Tennyson Becket i. iii. 72 And that too, perjured prelate—and that, turncoat shaveling!
1911 Contemp. Rev. Apr. 492 Counting up the number of shavelings still in France.
b. gen. A person with shaven head. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > beautification of the person > beautification of the hair > people with styles of hair > [noun] > with short hair
shorling?1548
shaveling1621
crop1689
skinhead1969
1621 R. Montagu Diatribæ Hist. Tithes iii. 532 Lycurgus would haue the Spartans weare their hair long..: for slaues were shauelings for the most part.
2. A youth, young ‘shaver’. rare.
ΘΚΠ
the world > people > person > young person > youth or young man > [noun]
frumberdlingc1000
young manOE
childc1225
hind1297
pagec1300
youtha1325
fawnc1369
swainc1386
stripling1398
boy1440
springaldc1450
jovencel1490
younkera1522
speara1529
gorrel1530
lad1535
hobbledehoy1540
cockerel1547
waga1556
spring1559
loonc1560
hensure1568
youngster1577
imp1578
pigsney1581
cocklinga1586
demy1589
muchacho1591
shaver1592
snipper-snappera1593
callant1597
spaught1598
stubble boy1598
ghillie1603
codling1612
cuba1616
skippera1616
man-boy1637
sprig1646
callow1651
halflang1660
stubbed boy1683
gossoon1684
gilpie1718
stirraha1722
young lion1792
halfling1794
pubescent1795
young man1810
sixteener1824
señorito1843
tad1845
boysie1846
shaveling1854
ephebe1880
boychick1921
lightie1946
young blood1967
studmuffin1986
1854 G. J. Whyte-Melville Gen. Bounce xiv The very youngest of the shavelings who aspire to dandyism.
1894 S. J. Weyman Man in Black viii ‘He is a runaway!’ the voice said... ‘Rouse up the little shaveling, will you?’
B. adj.
1. Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of a tonsured ecclesiastic.
ΘΚΠ
society > faith > worship > cleanness (ceremonial) > tonsure > [adjective] > tonsured
crowneda1500
shaveling1574
tonsured1706
1574 A. Gilby tr. Test. Twelue Patriarches sig. Dv (margin) The shaueling generation.
1581 J. Bell tr. W. Haddon & J. Foxe Against Jerome Osorius 281 Wheresoever that shavelyng marke of the Romish Prelate is emprinted.
1866 C. Kingsley Hereward the Wake I. iv. 148 But they were only honest canons with wives at home, and not shaveling monks.
2. Shaven, having the hair cut off.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > attention and judgement > beautification > beautification of the person > beautification of the hair > people with styles of hair > [adjective] > cut or shaved
nottOE
shavenc1330
rounded?a1439
clipped1483
poll-shorn1556
notched1597
nott-pated1598
well-shaved1600
shaveling1607
nott-headed1612
cropped-eared1641
round-headed1641
polled1653
crop-eared1680
lop-eared1798
shaved1837
crop-headed1842
county-cropped1849
cropped1856
colled1877
crop-haired1879
prison-cropped1882
bob-haired1923
bobbed-haired1928
bobbed-hair1953
slap-headed1994
1607 E. Topsell Hist. Foure-footed Beastes 283 Those shaueling and short haired Stallions.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1914; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
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n.adj.1529