shaveling

American  

[sheyv-ling] / ˈʃeɪv lɪŋ /

noun

1. Older Use: Disparaging. a clergyman with a shaven or tonsured head.

2. a young fellow; youngster.

---

shaveling British  

/ ˈʃeɪvlɪŋ /

noun

1. derogatory a priest or clergyman with a shaven head

2. a young fellow; youth

---

Etymology

Origin of shaveling

First recorded in 1520–30; shave + -ling ¹

Example Sentences

See Examples For:

shaveling

Let me endure the extremity of your anger, my lord," said Giles, "if this be not a real shaveling.

From Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott

Ay, so it is: if she have any ill, Through the lewd shaveling will her shame be wrought.

From A Select Collection of Old English Plays, Volume 8 by William Carew Hazlitt

And then to the lady on my right—"Forgive, Valeria," he begged, "the scurvy chance that should have sat a shaveling next to you."

From The Strolling Saint; being the confessions of the high and mighty Agostino D'Anguissola, tyrant of Mondolfo and Lord of Carmina in the state of Piacenza by Rafael Sabatini

The Baron was fairly satisfied, and muttered that if the bairn was fit only for a shaveling, it might be all right.

From Grisly Grisell by Charlotte Mary Yonge

"You will not do it, you shaveling traitor?" screamed Pereira in a voice hoarse with rage.

From The People of the Mist by Henry Rider Haggard