Forms: 1 wenian, 4–6 wene, 4–7 wain(e, wane, 5–7 wayn(e, weyn(e, 6 ween, 6–7 wein(e, weane, 6– wean. [OE. węnian to accustom (once only, to wean), corresponding to OFris. wennia, OS. wennian (MLG., MDu., mod.Du. wennen), OHG. wennen (MHG. wenen, mod.G. -wöhnen), ON. venja (Sw. vänja, Da. vænne):—OTeut. *wanjan, f. *wano- accustomed (ON. van-r); cognate with ON. vane wk. masc., custom, habit. For the Teut. root *wan-: *wun-, to be accustomed, to dwell, see WANE sb.2, WONE sb.2, WONT.
The OE. węnian occurs very frequently in the sense ‘to accustom,’ but this use is not illustrated here, as it did not survive into ME. The sense ‘to wean (a child)’ was ordinarily expressed in OE. by áwęnian (cf. G. entwöhnen), and occasionally by ʓewęnian.]
1. trans. To accustom (a child or young animal) to the loss of its mother’s milk; to cause to cease to be suckled. a. with obj. a child.
c. 960. Æthelwold, Bened. Rule, vii. 22. Aʓyld þu me, drihten, mid biternesse lean, swa swa moder deþ hyre bearne, þonne hio hit fram hire breosta ʓesoce weneþ.
13[?]. Hampole, Psalter cxxx. 4. As a childe þat has nede to be on his modur kne and fostird with hur mylke, perisch if he be wenyd [earlier MS. spaned] & takyn fro mylke.
1382. Wyclif, Hos. i. 8. And she wenyde hir [Vulg. et ablactavit eam] that was With outen mercye.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., VI. vi. (Tollem. MS.). The childe is propirly clepid ‘puer,’ when he is wained from milke and departid from þe breste.
c. 1425. Cursor M., 3018 (Trin.). Whenne he was wened [earlier texts spaned] fro þe pappe.
c. 1440. Jacob’s Well, 231. Whan þe modyr wanyth here child, sche wetyth here tetys wyth sum byttere thyng.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 522/1. Wene chylder fro sokynge, ablacto, elacto.
c. 1450. Mirk’s Festial, 16. Then aftyr, when scho was wened, þay broght hur to þe tempull.
1530. Palsgr., 770/2. I wayne a chylde from soukyng, Je seure.
1563–87. Foxe, A. & M. (1596), 106/1. Before the child that is borne be waned.
1592. Shaks., Rom. & Jul., I. iii. 24. ’Tis since the Earth-quake now eleuen yeares, And she was wean’d.
1634. T. Johnson, Parey’s Chirurg., XXIV. xxiv. (1678), 554. If the child be weak, sickly, or feeble, he ought not to be weaned.
a. 1641. Bp. Mountagu, Acts & Mon. (1642), 526. Untill shee be wayned, which must be at three yeers end, shee shall remaine with you in her fathers house.
1652. Culpepper, Eng. Phys., 178. It is much used to dry up the Milk in Womens breasts when they have weyned their children.
1789. Buchan, Dom. Med. (1790), 187. As soon as they perceive their strength and appetite begin to fail, they ought immediately to wean the child.
1888. Miss Braddon, Fatal Three, I. iii. His wife would return to him as soon as Lady Castle-Connell’s daughter was weaned.
absol. 1823. Byron, Juan, XII. xxi. Unless a man can calculate his means Of feeding brats the moment his wife weans.
b. with obj. a young animal.
1481. Caxton, Reynard (Arb.), 34. Reynart … said thus … Neuertheles yet was I vnto the tyme that I was wened fro the tete, one [etc.].
1485. in Descr. Catal. Anc. Deeds (1890), I. 359. William and Agnes to have the calves of them and thei to be weynyd at the age of x. wekes.
1523–34. Fitzherb., Husb., § 39. It is tyme to wayne theyr lambes, whanne they be .xvi. wekes old. Ibid., § 66. If thou waine thy calues with hey it wyl make them haue great belyes.
1575. Fleming, Virg. Bucol., I. 2. Our Lambs new weined from ye dam.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., V. ii. 250. Take all and weane it, it may prove an Oxe.
1600. Surflet, Country Farm, I. v. 23. Adding to the end of these great houses a little one, to keepe calues in of both kindes, which you haue wained.
1759. R. Brown, Compleat Farmer, 22. The best time for weaning calves is from January to May.
1846. Baxter’s Libr. Pract. Agric., II. 193. The meal or flour mixed with milk, is excellent food for weaning calves.
1908. Weyman, Wild Geese, xviii. 282. The low of a cow whose calf was being weaned.
c. in figurative context.
1571. Campion, Hist. Irel., II. x. (1633), 134. No doubt the name and reputation thereof would have bin a spurre to these erections, as nurses for babes to suck in, till they might repaire thither [sc. to the University] to be wained.
1584. Lyly, Campaspe, III. iv. 121. Reason [must] weane what appetite noursed.
1592. trans. Junius on Rev. xii. 1. Vntil that time wherin this Church were as it were weyned & taken away from the breast or milk of her mother.
1866. Kingsley, Herew., xiv. I put my love out to nurse, instead of weaning it.
d. transf.
1615. J. Stephens, Satyr. Ess., iv. 53. As Wormewood, rubbed upon the nipple of a Nurses Teate, weanes the childe.
1618. W. Lawson, New Orch. & Gard., xii. (1623), 41. The Tree ouer-loden with fruit, and wanting sap to feed all she hath brought forth, will waine all she cannot feed, like a woman bringing forth moe children at once then she hath teats. Ibid., xv. 51.
2. fig. To detach or alienate (a person, his desires or affections) from some accustomed object of pursuit or enjoyment; to reconcile by degrees to the privation of something.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 81 b. By obedyence they were wayned from this worlde.
1581. Pettie, trans. Guazzo’s Civ. Conv. (1586), III. 157. If they thinke them fit to enter into religion, the mother, who ought to haue cheefe charge of them, must seeke to waine them from all worldlie vanities.
1596. Drayton, Legends, Cromwell, 187. When first the wealthy Netherlands me trayn’d, In wise Commerce … And from my Countrie carefully me wayn’d.
1607. Walkington, Optic Glass, B 7 b. Hee must wisely defeate, and waine his appetite of all such dainty morsels.
1608. Merry Devil Edmonton, II. iii. 22. You are enioynd to waine your friendship from mee.
1616. B. Jonson, Every Man in H., I. i. How happie, yet, should I esteeme my selfe, Could I (by any practise) weane the boy From one vaine course of studie, he affects.
1670. T. Brooks, London’s Lament., 192. Luther was a man weaned from the world; and therefore when honours, preferments, and riches were offered to him, he despised them.
1741. Berkeley, Lett., Wks. 1871, IV. 266. A long continuance of ill health has weaned me from the world.
1751. Smollett, Per. Pickle, lxxxvi. He endeavoured to wean his eyes from the fatal object.
1836. Dickens, Sk. Boz, Sentiment. I trust the plan I have devised will be effectual in weaning my daughter from this absurd idea.
1837. Whewell, Hist. Induct. Sci. (1857), I. 226. Mankind cannot be weaned from the opinion.
1856. Merivale, Rom. Emp., xxxiii. (1865), IV. 64. Already men’s minds were becoming weaned from positive belief in the concrete divinities of Olympus.
1876. Bridges, Growth of Love, xxxv. Few there be are wean’d from earthly love.
1907. C. S. Parker, Sir J. Graham, I. i. 4. He … strove with some success to wean his tenantry from thriftless habits.
absol. 1850. Robertson, Serm., Ser. III. viii. 108. The consequences of sin are meant to wean from sin.
b. with away.
1891. F. H. Williams, Âtman, v. 270. I deliberately planned to wean you away from Margaret.
1913. Woodrow Wilson, New Freedom, ix. 211–3. If they refuse to be weaned away from their independence they cannot continue to enjoy the benefits extended to them.
c. refl.
1593. Shaks., 3 Hen. VI., IV. iv. 17. And I the rather waine me from dispaire For loue of Edwards Off-spring in my wombe.
c. 1645. Howell, Lett., I. § 1. xlii. Before I wean my self from Italy, a word or two touching the genius of the Nation.
1711. Steele, Spect., No. 27, ¶ 2. Let us not stand upon a Formal taking of Leave, but wean our selves from them [sc. the allurements of the world], while we are in the midst of them.
1725. Bolingbr., Lett. to Swift, 24 July. If your heart tells you nothing, say nothing, that I may take the hint, and wean myself from you by degrees.
1874. Green, Short Hist., iii. § 4. 131. A love of secular learning from which Edmund [Rich] found it hard to wean himself.
d. intr. for refl.
c. 1665. Mrs. Hutchinson, Mem. Col. Hutchinson (1885), I. 93. While she was weaning from the friends and places she had so long conversed in.
1827. Hood, Hero & Leander, vi. Leander, weaning from sweet Hero’s side, Must leave a widow where he found a bride.
† 3. To dissuade (whether successfully or not).
1607. Scholast. Disc. agst. Antichrist, I. iii. 139. They wayned the people from this hipocrisie by these reproofes in vaine.
1621. Burton, Anat. Mel., Democr. to Rdr. 38. Tell an Epicure … of his irregular course, weine him from it a little.
4. To remove or abate gradually (a desire, affection). rare.
1706. E. Ward, Wooden World Diss. (1708), 35. He weans by Degrees his Longings after the Flesh-pots of Sodom.
1842. Sarah, Lady Lyttelton, Corr. (1912), 327. The [baby] Princess has exactly … the same ‘morbid’ love of one nursery-maid, as Meriel has for you. That is to be weaned, I think, by a little less fondling her yourself.
† 5. To train, accustom to (good habits). Obs.
[Not a survival of the OE. sense (see the etymology); the use seems to have been developed from the notion of ‘weaning’ from the contrary evil.]
1579. Lodge, Def. Plays, 8. Weane thy selfe to wisedome, and vse thy tallant in zeale not for enuie.
1579. Lyly, Euphues (Arb.), 149. When the Father weaneth [later edd. warneth] them to continencie, the flatterer allureth them to lust.
1597. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. lxxi. The Iewes by reason of their long aboade in a place of continuall seruile toyle could not suddainely be wained and drawne vnto contrarie offices without some strong impression of terror.
