tidlingn.
/ˈtɪdlɪŋ/ Obsolete exc. dialect.
A pampered or spoilt child; a darling, pet; a young, delicate, or puny child or animal, needing special care; a weakling, ‘dilling’.
ΘΚΠ
the mind > emotion > love > loved one > [noun] > state or condition of being a favourite > favourite or pet
darlingc888
favoura1387
dandilly?a1513
tidling1520
marmoset1523
white son1539
minion1566
favourite1582
white boyc1600
feddle1611
dautie1676
inclination1691
mother's pet1819
fair-haired boy1822
pet1825
white-haired boy1829
petsywetsy1847
blue-eyed boy1919
fave1938
1520 R. Whittington Uulgaria (new ed.) f. 37v These cokeneis & tidelynges wantonly brought vp.
a1553 Nice Wanton in W. C. Hazlitt Dodsley's Sel. Coll. Old Eng. Plays (1874) II. 164 She for their sake, Being her tender tidlings, will me beat. [Cf. 173 [referring to the same persons] My parents did tiddle me: they were to blame; 174 Yet were we tiddled, and you beaten now and then.]
c1580 tr. Bugbears iii. i, in Archiv f. das Studium der Neueren Sprachen (1897) 99 The gray beard daunceth, and fareth as he weare dame venus tideling.
1657 J. Trapp Comm. Psalms iii. Introd. Absalom his Son, his Darling, his Tidling, his one Eye.
1905 Eng. Dial. Dict. VI. 137/2 Tiddling, (a) a young animal, esp. a lamb, brought up by hand; a delicate child needing care; (b) the smallest pig in a litter.
This entry has not yet been fully updated (first published 1912; most recently modified version published online June 2021).
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n.1520