darling

Often used as an affectionate term of address: a person who is very dear to one.

Pass the wine, would you, darling?

[I]t is better to be / An old mans derling than a yong mans werling.

A person who is kind, sweet, etc., and thus lovable; a pet, a sweetheart; also, an animal or thing which is cute and lovable.

The girl next door picks up all my shopping for me. She is such a darling.

When the Crocodile Queen came home, she found / That her eggs were broken and scattered around, / And that six young Princes, darlings all, / Were missing, for none of them answer'd her call.

A favourite.

And in ſo muche the more peril and haſard of the ſaid diſeaſes [“ambicion, auarice, riottous exceſſe, hatred, enuye, and ſuche others”] do the princes ſtand, as they are more then others made wantons ⁊ derelynges of fortune, and haue lybertie withoute checke or controllemente to fulfyll their owne ſenſuall luſtes and appetites.

[T]hat handkercher / Did an Egyptian to my mother giue, / […] ſhe told her vvhile ſhe kept it, / Tvvould make her amiable, and ſubdue my father / Intirely to her loue: […] [T]ake heed on't, / Make it [the handkerchief] a darling, like your pretious eye, / To looſe, or giue avvay, vvere ſuch perdition, / As nothing elſe could match.

A favourite.

Mary, the youngest daughter, was always her mother’s darling.

And tis a common obſervation in Familites, that the moſt diſcountenanc'd child oft makes better proof, then the dearling.

A favourite.

a media darling

a darling of the theatre

Very dear; beloved, cherished, favourite.

She is my darling wife of twenty-two years.

Do thou dred infant, Venus dearling doue, / From her high ſpirit chaſe imperious feare, / And vſe of avvfull Maieſtie remoue: […]

Very cute or lovable; adorable, charming, sweet.

Well, isn’t that a darling little outfit she has on?

Isn't it the darlingest, sweetest, prettiest, little dear darling darling! Oh! did you ever!!

To call (someone) "darling" (noun noun sense 1).

The frisky female, we have noticed, has one most unpleasant trick; it is that of darlinging and duckeying and otherwise spooneying her husband … in public. He is invariably, invariably set down as an ass, without its being in the least his fault.

Hullo! oh! Maud, darling, I wanted to know— / Great snakes, it's not she!—I want Miss Maud DeVaux.— / I think that I "darlinged" the old man that time. / If I did, I'll sell cheap,—this lot marked down,—one dime.