Dictionary

bairnly en · ADJ

Etymology

From bairn + -ly.

Meanings

1. (Scotland, rare) Bairnlike; childish.
   • There wes nae thocht worth mentionin', and onything he hed wes eked oot by repeetition. Tae sae naethin' o' bairnly stories. 1894, Ian Maclaren, “A Wise Woman”, in Beside the Bonnie Brier Bush:
   • "So she will be, indeed!" says Catriona. "But I will never forgive her for all that. I will never, never forgive her, and let me hear tell of her no more." "Well," said I, "this beats all that ever came to my knowledge; and I wonder that you can indulge yourself in such bairnly whims. Here is a young lady that was the best friend in the world to the both of us, that learned us how to dress ourselves, and in a great manner how to behave, as anyone can see that knew us both before and after." 1893, Robert Louis Stevenson, David Balfour, New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, published 1905, page 301:
   • Andrew examined the wounded part, and declared it was just a flea bite. "It's a wee red," said he, "and before half an hour's bye ye'll ne'er fin't. Man, Charlie, it's bairnly to make sic a wark for a bit tig on the haffet […]" 1822, John Galt, chapter 5, in Sir Andrew Wylie, of That Ilk, volume 1, page 36:
   • Woman thour't but a bairnlie playke, / Wi' nought but beauty's blossom; / But, thour't a flow'r of heavenly pow'r, / Wi' pity in thy bosom: 1813, Allan Cunningham, “The Rosie Cheek”, in Songs: Chiefly in the Rural Language of Scotland, verse 3, page 50:
   • I canna tell ye hoo it was, but that was the kind o' feelin that cam ower we—that it wad be a bairnly-like thing, an' a cooardly-like thing forby, no' to gae in wi' the lave, an' record my vote eithor on the tae side or the tither. Ye can respec' a man wha taks the wrang side, sae lang as he believes it richt; but hoo can ye respec' a man wha refüses to tak ony side […] 1896, P[eter] Hay Hunter, James Inwick: Ploughman and Elder, pages 161–162:

Forms

Synonyms

puerile · infantile