The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:

Babe \Babe\, n. [Cf. Ir. bab, baban, W. baban, maban.]
   [1913 Webster]
   1. An infant; a young child of either sex; a baby.
      [1913 Webster]

   2. A doll for children. --Spenser.
      [1913 Webster]

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):

babe
    n 1: a very young child (birth to 1 year) who has not yet begun
         to walk or talk; "the baby began to cry again"; "she held
         the baby in her arms"; "it sounds simple, but when you have
         your own baby it is all so different" [syn: baby, babe,
         infant]
    2: (slang) sometimes used as a term of address for attractive
       young women [syn: baby, babe, sister]

The Devil's Dictionary (1881-1906):

BABE or BABY, n.  A misshapen creature of no particular age, sex, or
condition, chiefly remarkable for the violence of the sympathies and
antipathies it excites in others, itself without sentiment or emotion.
There have been famous babes; for example, little Moses, from whose
adventure in the bulrushes the Egyptian hierophants of seven centuries
before doubtless derived their idle tale of the child Osiris being
preserved on a floating lotus leaf.

            Ere babes were invented
            The girls were contended.
            Now man is tormented
    Until to buy babes he has squandered
    His money.  And so I have pondered
            This thing, and thought may be
            'T were better that Baby
    The First had been eagled or condored.
                                                               Ro Amil