bairnlike

comparative more bairnlike · superlative most bairnlike

1. Northern EnglandScotlandrareLike a bairn; childlike.

   His green eyes sparkled with an exuberance that looked almost bairnlike.

   1991, Rebecca Sinclair, Wild Scottish Embrace, Kensington Publishing Corporation, →ISBN, page 237

   3 more examples

   […] and then it was a pleasure to me — yes, a pleasure, Mr. Lowrie, to spend a' my spare time by his bedside, and listen to his bairnlike thoughts about Divine things.

   1876, Sarah R. Whitehead, “Daft Davie”, in Daft Davie and Other Sketches of Scottish Life and Character

   She offered him sixpence for a letter, any letter he liked, but of course he refused it. Then she prigged with him just to let her hold one in her hands, for said she, bairnlike, “I used to get one every day.”

   1896, James Matthew Barrie, Sentimental Tommy, Toronto: The Copp, Clark Company, page 131

   Thomas turned thirteen. […] Yet he had not thrown off the trappings of a child. He was small and bairnlike, and his skin was smooth. His voice, when he sang the psalms, was as faint and feeble as a boy of nine's, rising sweet and tremulous.

   2016, Shirley McKay, Martinmas, Birlinn Ltd, →ISBN

   Synonyms: juvenile, kiddish