shaveling

American  

[sheyv-ling] / ˈʃeɪv lɪŋ /

noun

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

2. a young fellow; youngster.

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shaveling British  

/ ˈʃeɪvlɪŋ /

noun

1. derogatory a priest or clergyman with a shaven head

2. a young fellow; youth

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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 Scott, Walter, Sir

We will take you on horseback, and when we have caught the shaveling we will make merry together out of the ducat.

From The Hour Will Come: Volumes I and II A Tale of an Alpine Cloister by Hillern, Wilhelmine von

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 Hazlitt, William Carew

For I am no shaveling ignoramus, but a gentleman of birth; aye, and one who, though poor, is a near cousin of the marshal himself.

From The Black Douglas by Richards, Frank

"You are a man of sinew yourself, monk, and methinks that you would have made a better soldier than a shaveling."

From Both Sides the Border A Tale of Hotspur and Glendower by Peacock, Ralph