Word of the Day ·

S1U1C3K5L1E1

suckle

/ˈsʌk.əl/

noun

What it means

  1. obsoleteA teat.

    […] the body of this fish [the Mannatee] is commonly 3 yards long and one broad, slow in swimming, wanting fins, in their place ayded with 2 paps which are not only suckles but stilts to creep a shoare upon such time she grazes […]

    1638, Thomas Herbert, “Travels begun Anno 1626”, in Some yeares travels into divers parts of Asia and Afrique, London: Jacob Blome and Richard Bishop, Book 1, p. 26
  2. An act of suckling

    The baby was having a suckle at its mother's breast.

In a sentence

[…] the body of this fish [the Mannatee] is commonly 3 yards long and one broad, slow in swimming, wanting fins, in their place ayded with 2 paps which are not only suckles but stilts to creep a shoare upon such time she grazes […]

1638, Thomas Herbert, “Travels begun Anno 1626”, in Some yeares travels into divers parts of Asia and Afrique, London: Jacob Blome and Richard Bishop, Book 1, p. 26

Where it comes from

  1. Middle Englishsukeling“a suckling; infant”
  2. Middle Englishsukelen
  3. Englishsuckle

From Middle English sukelen; probably a back-formation of Middle English sukeling (“a suckling; infant”), formally equivalent to suck + -le (frequentative suffix). See suckling.

Full entry for suckle →

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