childe

See also: Childe

English

Etymology

From Old English ċild.

Pronunciation

• enPR: chīld, IPA^(key): /t͡ʃaɪld/
• Rhymes: -aɪld
• Homophone: child

Noun

childe

1. Obsolete form of child.
   • 1524, will of William Butler of Brotton Juxta Gisburne, quoted in 1884, The Publications of the Surtees Society, page 190:

     I will that non childe of myne have any childe's parte of my goodes saving thies childer here in my will namyd, […]

   • 1570, will of John Hauelocke of Newcastle upon Tyne, quoted in 1835, James Raine, William Greenwell, John Crawford Hodgson, Wills and Inventories Illustrative of the History, Manners, Language, Statistics: &c., of the Northern Counties of England, from the Eleventh Century Downwards, page 325:

     It'm I gyue & bequithe vnto my Mr iij childringe my beste coalte […] It'm I bequithe & gyue vnto yt childe yt my wiffe is wth all at this p'sente fortie […]

   • 1637, An Exposition of the Epistle of Saint Paul to the Colossians, Delivered in Sundry Sermons, by Edward Elton ... The Third Edition, Corrected and Revised. [With the Text.], page 558:

     A good childe is to obey a wicked father as he is a father, [... as] children to their parents.

2. A child of noble birth.
3. The cognomen given to the oldest son prior to his taking his father's title.
   • c. 1607, William Shakespeare, King Lear, act 3, scene 4:

     Childe Rowland to the dark tower came.

     His word was still "Fie, foh, and fum,

     I smell the blood of a British man."

4. (fantasy, plural childer) A vampire who was turned by another vampire (the childe's sire) in a particular way.
   • 1999, Kathleen Ryan, Clan Novel: Ravnos‎:

     She had waded in blood and reveled in death, she had torn her enemies asunder with shadow and given their childer to the flame.

   • 2003, Janet Trautvetter, Dark Ages: Toreador‎, page 5:

     Alexander, the ancient vampire who has ruled Paris for many centuries, has been deposed by his own childe, Sir Geoffrey.

   • 2012, Molly Harper, Nice Girls Don't Bite Their Neighbors‎, page 23:

     The blood loss involved in creating a childe takes a lot out of the vampire sire.

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:childe.

Anagrams

• chelid, chield

Middle English

Noun

childe

1. alternative form of child
2. dative singular of child