rob the cradle

verb

To marry or become romantically involved with a much younger person, especially one from a younger generation.

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Meanings

verbrob the cradle (third-person singular simple present robs the cradle, present participle robbing the cradle, simple past and past participle robbed the cradle)

present singular third person robs the cradle · participle present robbing the cradle · participle past robbed the cradle · past robbed the cradle

  1. disapprovingidiomaticTo marry or become romantically involved with a much younger person, especially one from a younger generation.

    The actress, 31, also pooh-poohs the notion that she's robbing the cradle with Timberlake, 22.

    2004 January 8, Karen Thomas, “Cameron won't pull a Britney”, in USA Today
  2. disapprovingidiomaticTo use a young person for a purpose inappropriate to their age.

    They were ordered to the field, and their places filled by the Georgia "Reserves," an organization of boys under, and men over the military age. As General Grant aptly-phrased it, "They had robbed the cradle and the grave," in forming these regiments.

    1879, John McElroy, chapter 29, in Andersonville: A Story of Rebel Military Prisons
Cite this entry
APA

rob the cradle. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rob%20the%20cradle

MLA

“rob the cradle.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rob%20the%20cradle. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “rob the cradle,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/rob%20the%20cradle.

Source: rob the cradle on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.