Definition of "nursling" []

• A nursing infant or young animal. (noun)
• A carefully nurtured person or thing. (noun)

American Heritage(R) Dictionary of the English Language, Fifth Edition. Copyright (c) 2011 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. All rights reserved.

• "You should know best, but is it suitable to term the nursling and the parent by the same title?"
• "And with an earnest credulity, which contained the germ of purest faith, she, remembering the mother's dream, called her nursling by the name of Olive."
• "It is a decision that you alone can make, taking the needs of yourself and your nursling into account."