1.
[syn: idiot, imbecile, cretin, moron, changeling, half-wit, retard]
2. a child secretly exchanged for another in infancy;
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Changeling \Change"ling\, n. [Change + -ling.]
1. One who, or that which, is left or taken in the place of
another, as a child exchanged by fairies.
[1913 Webster]
Such, men do changelings call, so changed by
fairies' theft. --Spenser.
[1913 Webster]
The changeling [a substituted writing] never known.
--Shak.
[1913 Webster]
2. A simpleton; an idiot. --Macaulay.
[1913 Webster]
Changelings and fools of heaven, and thence shut
out.
[1913 Webster]
Wildly we roam in discontent about. --Dryden.
[1913 Webster]
3. One apt to change; a waverer. "Fickle changelings."
--Shak.
[1913 Webster]
The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.48:
Changeling \Change"ling\, a.
1. Taken or left in place of another; changed. "A little
changeling boy." --Shak.
[1913 Webster]
2. Given to change; inconstant. [Obs.]
[1913 Webster]
Some are so studiously changeling. --Boyle.
[1913 Webster]
WordNet (r) 3.0 (2006):
changeling
n 1: a person of subnormal intelligence [syn: idiot,
imbecile, cretin, moron, changeling, half-wit,
retard]
2: a child secretly exchanged for another in infancy
Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0:
58 Moby Thesaurus words for "changeling":
agent, alternate, alternative, analogy, backup, change, comparison,
copy, counterfeit, deputy, double, dummy, elf child, equal,
equivalent, ersatz, exchange, fake, fill-in, ghost, ghostwriter,
imitation, locum tenens, makeshift, metaphor, metonymy,
next best thing, personnel, phony, pinch hitter, proxy, relief,
replacement, representative, reserves, ringer, second string,
secondary, sign, spares, stand-in, sub, substituent, substitute,
substitution, succedaneum, superseder, supplanter, surrogate,
symbol, synecdoche, third string, token, understudy,
utility player, vicar, vice-president, vice-regent