| Library / English Dictionary |
BABY
| Pronunciation (US): |  | (GB): | |
Irregular inflected form: babied
I. (noun)
Sense 1
Meaning:
A project of personal concern to someone
Example:
this project is his baby
Classified under:
Nouns denoting acts or actions
Hypernyms ("baby" is a kind of...):
labor; project; task; undertaking (any piece of work that is undertaken or attempted)
Sense 2
Meaning:
A very young mammal
Example:
baby rabbits
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("baby" is a kind of...):
young mammal (any immature mammal)
Derivation:
babyhood (the earliest state of immaturity)
babyhood (the early stage of growth or development)
Sense 3
Meaning:
The youngest member of a group (not necessarily young)
Example:
the baby of the Supreme Court
Classified under:
Hypernyms ("baby" is a kind of...):
issue; offspring; progeny (the immediate descendants of a person)
Sense 4
Meaning:
A very young child (birth to 1 year) who has not yet begun to walk or talk
Example:
it sounds simple, but when you have your own baby it is all so different
Synonyms:
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Hypernyms ("baby" is a kind of...):
child; kid (a human offspring (son or daughter) of any age)
Hyponyms (each of the following is a kind of "baby"):
blue baby (an infant born with a bluish color; usually has a defective heart)
cherub (a sweet innocent baby)
abandoned infant; foundling (a child who has been abandoned and whose parents are unknown)
godchild (an infant who is sponsored by an adult (the godparent) at baptism)
neonate; newborn (a baby from birth to four weeks)
nurseling; nursling; suckling (an infant considered in relation to its nurse)
papoose; pappoose (an American Indian infant)
test-tube baby (a baby conceived by fertilization that occurs outside the mother's body; the woman's ova are removed and mixed with sperm in a culture medium - if fertilization occurs the blastocyte is implanted in the woman's uterus)
war baby (conceived or born during war)
Derivation:
baby (treat with excessive indulgence)
babyhood (the earliest state of immaturity)
babyhood (the early stage of growth or development)
Sense 5
Meaning:
An unborn child; a human fetus
Example:
it was great to feel my baby moving about inside
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Hypernyms ("baby" is a kind of...):
fetus; foetus (an unborn or unhatched vertebrate in the later stages of development showing the main recognizable features of the mature animal)
Sense 6
Meaning:
An immature childish person
Example:
stop being a baby!
Synonyms:
baby; child
Classified under:
Nouns denoting people
Hypernyms ("baby" is a kind of...):
individual; mortal; person; somebody; someone; soul (a human being)
Derivation:
babyhood (the earliest state of immaturity)
II. (verb)
Verb forms
Present simple: I / you / we / they baby ... he / she / it babies
Past simple: babied
Past participle: babied
-ing form: babying
Sense 1
Meaning:
Treat with excessive indulgence
Example:
Let's not mollycoddle our students!
Synonyms:
baby; cocker; coddle; cosset; featherbed; indulge; mollycoddle; pamper; spoil
Classified under:
Verbs of political and social activities and events
Hypernyms (to "baby" is one way to...):
do by; handle; treat (interact in a certain way)
Sentence frame:
Somebody ----s somebody
Derivation:
baby (a very young child (birth to 1 year) who has not yet begun to walk or talk)
Context examples:
Even when she was just a baby her wee hand seemed to lead me down the right path as nothing else had ever done.
(The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
Nursed her as a baby, and came with her to England when they first left Australia, eighteen months ago.
(The Return of Sherlock Holmes, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)
You see, this morning the poundman got Maria's two cows and the baby calf, and—well, it happened that Maria didn't have any money, and so I had to recover her cows for her.
(Martin Eden, by Jack London)
Genetic and prenatal testing: What happens if you are a carrier of a defect? What if testing shows that your unborn baby has a defect?
(Medical Ethics, NIH)
Pregnant women can pass the mercury in their bodies to their babies.
(Mercury, Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry)
The process of conceiving a baby.
(Method of Conception, NCI Thesaurus)
Many women who have a miscarriage go on to have healthy babies.
(Miscarriage, NIH: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development)
Certain types of cancer may occur less often in mothers who have breastfed their babies.
(Breastfeeding, NIH: National Institute of Child Health and Human Development)
To prevent botulism: • Be very careful when canning foods at home • Do not let babies eat honey • Get prompt medical care for infected wounds
(Botulism, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention)
Sometimes they happen during childbirth when a baby's shoulders become stuck during delivery and the nerves stretch or tear.
(Brachial Plexus Injuries, NIH)
