Hypertext Webster Gateway: "Wean"
From Easton's 1897 Bible Dictionary (easton)
Wean
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.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
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.
From Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913) (web1913)
Wean \Wean\, n.
A weanling; a young child.
I, being but a yearling wean. --Mrs.
Browning.
From WordNet (r) 1.7 (wn)
wean
v 1: deprive (infants) of mother's milk
2: detach the affections of
Additional Hypertext Webster Gateway Lookup
Gateway by dict@stokkie.net
stock only wrote the gateway and does not have any control over the contents;
see the Webster Gateway FAQ,
and also the Back-end/database links and credits.