Adjacent Words

Wean definitions

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Webster's 1828 Dictionary

WEAN, v.t. [G. See Wont.]
1. To accustom and reconcile, as a child or other young animal, to a want or deprivation of the breast.
And the child grew, and was weaned. Genesis 21.
2. To detach or alienate, as the affections, from any object of desire; to reconcile to the want or loss of any thing; as, to wean the heart from temporal enjoyments.

WordNet (r) 3.0 (2005)

v
1: gradually deprive (infants and young mammals) of mother's milk; "she weaned her baby when he was 3 months old and started him on powdered milk"; "The kitten was weaned and fed by its owner with a bottle" [syn: wean, ablactate]
2: detach the affections of

Merriam Webster's

transitive verb Etymology: Middle English wenen, from Old English wenian to accustom, wean; akin to Old English wunian to be used to — more at wont Date: before 12th century 1. to accustom (as a young child or animal) to take food otherwise than by nursing 2. to detach from a source of dependence <being weaned off the medication> <wean the bears from human food — Sports Illus.>; also to free from a usually unwholesome habit or interest <wean him off his excessive drinking> <settling his soldiers on the land…, weaning them from habits of violence — Geoffrey Carnall> 3. to accustom to something from an early age — used in the passive especially with on <students weaned on the Internet for research> <I was weaned on greasepaint — Helen Hayes> <the principles upon which he had been weaned — J. A. Michener>

Oxford Reference Dictionary

1. v.tr. 1 accustom (an infant or other young mammal) to food other than (esp. its mother's) milk. 2 (often foll. by from, away from) disengage (from a habit etc.) by enforced discontinuance. Etymology: OE wenian accustom f. Gmc: cf. WONT 2. n. Sc. a young child. Etymology: contr. of wee ane little one

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Wean Wean, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Weaned; p. pr. & vb. n. Weaning.] [OE. wenen, AS. wenian, wennan, to accustom; akin to D. wennen, G. gew["o]hnen, OHG. giwennan, Icel. venja, Sw. v["a]nja, Dan. v[ae]nne, Icel. vanr accustomed, wont; cf. AS. [=a]wenian to wean, G. entw["o]hnen. See Wont, a.] 1. To accustom and reconcile, as a child or other young animal, to a want or deprivation of mother's milk; to take from the breast or udder; to cause to cease to depend on the mother nourishment. And the child grew, and was weaned; and Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned. --Gen. xxi. 8. 2. Hence, to detach or alienate the affections of, from any object of desire; to reconcile to the want or loss of anything. ``Wean them from themselves.'' --Shak. The troubles of age were intended . . . to wean us gradually from our fondness of life. --Swift.

Webster's 1913 Dictionary

Wean Wean, n. A weanling; a young child. I, being but a yearling wean. --Mrs. Browning.

Collin's Cobuild Dictionary

(weans, weaning, weaned) 1. When a baby or baby animal is weaned, its mother stops feeding it milk and starts giving it other food, especially solid food. When would be the best time to start weaning my baby?... Phil took the labrador home and is weaning him off milk on to meat... VERB: V n, V n off/from n 2. If you wean someone off a habit or something they like, you gradually make them stop doing it or liking it, especially when you think is bad for them. You are given pills with small quantities of nicotine to wean you from cigarettes... VERB: V n off/from n

Easton's Bible Dictionary

Among the Hebrews children (whom it was customary for the mothers to nurse, Ex. 2:7-9; 1 Sam. 1:23; Cant. 8:1) were not generally weaned till they were three or four years old.

International Standard Bible Encyclopedia

wen: "To wean" in English Versions of the Bible is always the translation of (gamal), but gamal has a much wider force than merely "to wean," signifying "to deal fully with," as in Ps 13:6, etc. Hence, as applied to a child, gamal covers the whole period of nursing and care until the weaning is complete (1Ki 11:20). This period in ancient Israel extended to about 3 years, and when it was finished the child was mature enough to be entrusted to strangers (1Sa 1:24). And, as the completion of the period marked the end of the most critical stage of the child's life, it was celebrated with a feast (Ge 21:8), a custom still observed in the Orient. The weaned child, no longer fretting for the breast and satisfied with its mother's affection, is used in Ps 131:2 as a figure for Israel's contentment with God's care, despite the smallness of earthly possessions. In Isa 28:9 there is an ironical question, `Is God to teach you knowledge as if you were children? You should have learned His will long ago!'

Burton Scott Easton

Soule's Dictionary of English Synonyms

I. v. a. 1. Put from the breast. 2. Withdraw, disengage, alienate, detach, reconcile to the loss of anything. II. n. Weanling.

Moby Thesaurus

alien, alienate, blunt, break of, bring over, chill, convince, cool, cure, damp, dampen, deflect, deter, disaccustom, disaffect, discourage, disincline, disinterest, distract, disunify, disunite, divert, evangelize, indispose, persuade, proselyte, proselytize, put off, quench, repel, stop, turn aside, turn away, turn from, turn off, wean from, win over