wean

name

1. A locality in the Gunnedah council area and the Narrabri council area, northern New South Wales, Australia.

noun

Etymology: Borrowed from Scots wean (literally “wee one”).

1. A young child.

   “I, being but a yearling wean.”

   “And there were darker tales in the countryside, of weans stolen, of lassies misguided, of innocent beasts cruelly tortured, and in one and all there came in the name of the wife of the Skerburnfoot.”

verb

Etymology: From Middle English wenen, from Old English wenian (“to accustom; habituate; train; prepare; make fit”), from Proto-West Germanic *wannjan, from Proto-Germanic *wanjaną (“to make wont; accustom”), from Proto-Indo-European *wenh₁- (“to strive for; wish; love”). Cognate with Dutch wennen, German gewöhnen, Danish vænne, Swedish vänja, Icelandic venja. Related via PIE to wone, wont, and wonder, and perhaps win.

1. To cease giving breast milk to an offspring; to accustom and reconcile (a child or young animal) to a want or deprivation of mother's milk; to take from the breast or udder.

   “The cow has weaned her calf.”

   “Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned.”

2. To cease giving breast milk to an offspring; to accustom and reconcile (a child or young animal) to a want or deprivation of mother's milk; to take from the breast or udder.

   “His generation was weaned on 1980's music.”

3. To cease to depend on the mother's milk for nutrition.

   “The kittens are finally weaning.”

4. To cause to quit something to which one is addicted, dependent, or habituated.

   “He managed to wean himself off heroin.”

   “With Marvin getting older ... and walking now ... I thought it was time to start weaning him off of his bottle.”

5. To cease to depend.

   “She is weaning from her addiction to tobacco.”

6. To raise, to help grow toward maturity

   “For they are friends that help to weane my ſtate, Till men and kingdomes help to ſtrengthen it: […]”