foundling
nounEtymology From Middle English foundlyng, fondeyng, variants of Middle English fyndling, fyndlyng. By surface analysis, found + -ling.
1
An abandoned child, left by its parent(s), often a baby left at a convent or similar safe place.
- foundling hospital
- In foundling hospitals, and among the children brought up by parish charities, the mortality is still greater than among those of the common people.1776, Adam Smith, An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations:
2 more examples
- Moses was a foundling; Jesus Christ was born in a stable; and Mahomet was a mule driver.1794, Thomas Paine, The Age of Reason (Part I):
- [Owl:] YOU HEARD THAT FREMOUNT IS REALLY A^([sic]) ANT LION, MR. CONGERSMAN? [Frog:] IT'S A SAD BLOW TO THE PARTY JUST AT A TIME WHEN US OWLS MUST STICK TOGETHER. WORST PART IS, MRS. WEEVIL SAYS HER SISTER-AN'-LAW FOUND THE CANDIDATE IN A BOX OF POPCORN. [Owl:] AIN'T IT WORSE TO BE A CANNIBAL THAN A FOUNDLING? [Frog:] WE CAN SAY HE'S CHANGED HIS HABITS! BUT A FAMILY TREE LOOKS BAD SPROUTIN' OUT OF POPCORN⋯1960 June 13, Walt Kelly, “The Confoundling”, in Pogo, comic strip, published 1974, →ISBN, page 342:
- Derived terms
- foundling wheel, foundlinghood
- Related terms
- changeling, oblate