a. (sb.). Forms: 1 ʓingra, ʓyngra, ʓeongra, 3 ȝeong(e)re, ȝengere, ȝ(e)unger, ȝungre (Orm. ȝunngre), yungre, ȝongor(e, 3–4 ȝongere, 3–5 ȝunger, (6 Sc.) ȝonger, 4 yunger, 4–6 yongar, Sc. ȝongar(e, 4–7 yonger, 5 ȝongir(e, ȝungir, yungur, 5–6 yongur, 6 Sc. ȝoungar, youngar, yonngar(e, 7 Sc. ȝonnegar, 6– younger. [f. YOUNG a. + -ER3. (The normal mutated OE. comp. ʓingra, ʓyngra did not survive.)] The comparative degree of YOUNG a.; opposed to ELDER a., OLDER.
1. In senses 1 and 3 of YOUNG: On less age; that has lived a shorter time; more youthful (in years, or fig. in disposition, etc.).
c. 930–40. Laws Æthelstan, VI. xii. § 1. Cwæð þa þæt him þuhte … þæt man nænne ʓingran mann ne sloʓe þonne xv wintre man.
c. 1000. Ags. Ps. (Spelman), xxxvi. 26 [xxxvii. 25]. Ʒyngra [v.rr. ʓeongra, ʓongre] ic wæs, witendlice ic ealdode.
1297. R. Glouc. (Rolls), 8753. Hit ne likede noþing wel Roberd courtehese Þoru is ȝongore broþer so engelond to lese.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 3493. Iacob hight þe yonger broþer.
1390. Gower, Conf., II. 308. Fedra hire yonger Soster.
a. 1400–50. Wars Alex., 1474. Athils of all age eldire & ȝongire.
1523–34. Fitzherb., Husb., § 23. The yonger and the grener that the grasse is, the softer and the sweter it wyll be.
c. 1600. G. Harvey, Marginalia (1913), App. ii. 232. The younger sort takes much delight in Shakespeares Venus, & Adonis.
c. 1626. Dicke of Devon., IV. i., in Bullen, Old Pl. (1883), II. 62. All younger brothers Must sitt beneath the salt & take what dishes The elder shoves downe to them.
1678. Wanley, Wond. Lit. World, I. xxxii. 52. They are proverbially said to have eaten a snake, who look younger than accustomed.
1718. Pope, Lett. to Lady M. W. Montagu, 1 Sept. I shall look upon you as so many years younger than you was, so much nearer innocence.
1838. Lytton, Alice, IX. ii. Evelyn was younger than her years!
1844. R. Monckton Milnes, Lett. to C. J. MacCarthy, 1 July. Sir F. Doyle is going to marry the younger Miss Wynn.
1897. Mary Kingsley, W. Africa, 484. The younger brother may not marry the elder brother’s widows.
b. Used after a person’s name for distinction from an older person of the same name; = JUNIOR 1. Chiefly Sc.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, ii. (Paulus), 1138. Iustine yungre.
c. 1460. Oseney Reg., 84. Aleyne Romely þe yongur.
1529. Reg. Privy Seal Scot., 62/2. Umquhill Johnne Culquhone, eldar, and Johnne Culquhone, zounger.
1627. Hakewill, Apol. (1630), 163. Tobias the Elder lived to one hundred fifty and eight, the yonger to one hundred twenty seven.
1684. Procl., in Wodrow, Hist. Suff. Ch. Scot. (1722), II. App. 109. John Baxters elder and younger, Tenants to Robert Campbel.
1734. Parish Reg. Forres, 23 Feb. (MS.). Witnesses Alexander Dunbar younger and Elder of Boath.
1815. Scott, Guy M., xli. Charles Hazlewood, younger of Hazlewood.
† c. Youngerman: see quot. and YEOMAN etym.
Cf. MLG. jungerman, newly elected judge or counsellor, newly admitted member of a guild.
c. 1185[?]. Pseudo-Cnut De Foresta, ii. (Liebermann), 620. Sintque sub quolibet horum [primariorum] quatuor ex mediocribus hominibus, quos Angli læssþegenes nuncupant, Dani uero yongermen uocant.
2. transf. in sense 2 of YOUNG: Belonging to the earlier part of life; earlier. Now only in younger days.
1578. Reg. Privy Council Scot., Ser. I. II. 707. Gude will schawin unto him in his youngar aige.
1605. Shaks., Lear, I. i. 41 (Qo. 1). To shake all cares and busines of our state, Confirming them on yonger yeares.
1676. Glanvill, Ess. Philos. & Relig., III. 52. They [sc. the Peripatetick Disputers] imployed their Younger Studies upon the Philosophy of Disputation.
1741. Watts, Improv. Mind, I. xvii. § 8. Whether in their chamber, parlour or study, in the younger or elder years of life.
1827. Lytton, Pelham, lxi. He had been an old votary of the turf in his younger days.
3. In senses 4 and 5 of YOUNG: More lately initiated, begun, introduced, etc.; having less experience or practice; that is in an earlier stage; less advanced; later, more recent.
1593. G. Harvey, Pierce’s Super., 122. Thou art young in yeares, I suppose: but younger in enterprise, I am assured.
1609. Bp. Hall, Disswas. Poperie, Wks. (1625), 614. If there be any point of our Religion yonger than the Patriarchs, and Prophets.
1662. Stillingfl., Orig. Sacræ, I. iii. § 10. We have made it evident, that these two great historians are younger even then the translation of the Bible into Greek.
1706. Phillips (ed. Kersey), Younger Regiment or Officer, in Military Affairs, that Regiment is counted Youngest, which was last rais’d, and that Officer youngest, whose Commission is of the latest Date.
1794. J. Boys, Agric. Kent, 58. The second year after planting [hops], full size poles … are placed to the hills instead of the seconds, which are removed to younger grounds.
1849. Macaulay, Hist. Eng., iii. I. 340. Younger towns, towns which are rarely or never mentioned in our early history and which sent no representatives to our early parliaments.
1854. Murchison, Siluria, i. 13. The Silurian rocks of the Ural chain are succeeded by younger palæozoic deposits.
1874. Sayce, Compar. Philol., ii. 60. The younger the science, the smaller will be the amount of known facts.
1915. Daily Tel., 5 May, 2/3. The directors decided not to commence tapping on the younger [rubber] fields.
b. Younger hand (in Card-playing): the second player in a two-handed game (opp. to elder hand, ELDER a. 4).
1744. Hoyle, Piquet, iii. 28. If the younger-hand has one Ace dealt him, what are the Odds of his taking in one or two of the three remaining Aces?
B. absol. or as sb.
1. absol. (usually, now always, with def. art.) in sing. or pl. sense; One who is, or those who are, younger. (Most commonly contrasted with elder.)
OE. ʓingra (fem. ʓingre) spec. = follower, disciple, vassal.
c. 900. trans. Bæda’s Hist., III. v. (1890), 160. Se bisceop, betwih oþre lare mannum to lyfiʓeanne, þa fæʓerestan bysene his ʓingrum forlet.
a. 1000. Cædmon’s Gen., 291. Ne wille ic leng his ʓeongra wurþan.
c. 1200. Moral Ode, 326 (Trin. Coll. MS.). Ne muȝe we werien naðer ne wið þurst ne wið hunger … þe elder ne þe ȝeunger.
c. 1205. Lay., 3927. Þe king hauede tweie sunen … Þe ȝengere [c. 1275 þe ȝeongre] hehte Poreus. Ibid., 9189. Wiðer wes þa ældere Aruiragun þe ȝungere [c. 1275 ȝeongere].
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 424. Nenne mon ne leten heo in ne þe ȝungre ne speke mid none monne bute leaue.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 2934. Þe elder to þe yonger spak.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Wks. (1880), 383. He þat is gratter of ȝow, loke þat he be made as ȝongar in sympilnes.
c. 1400. Apol. Loll., 2. Wan þe synne of þe heldar man drawiþ not be his ensaumple þe hertis of þe ȝungar in to deþ.
1526. Tindale, Rom. ix. 12. The elder shall serve the yonger.
1612. Woodall, Surg. Mate, Pref., Wks. (1653), 16. It is fit that the yonger obey the elder.
2. (In early use absol. without change in pl.; later as sb. with pl. in -s.) With preceding possessive: (A person’s) inferior in age: = JUNIOR B. b. Now rare.
c. 1200. Ormin, 13279. Þatt uss birrþ follȝhenn bliþeliȝ Þatt ure ȝunngre uss læreþþ, Ȝiff þatt iss þatt hiss lare iss god.
1493. [H. Parker], Dives & Pauper (W. de W., 1496), I. xxxvi. 78/1. Than begyn they moost to dote and to teche theyr yonger many folyes.
1523. [Coverdale], Old God (1534), R j. Suche thinges do theyr yongers here.
a. 1540. in T. West, Antiq. Furness (1807), 157. They shall diligently instruct their juniors and yongers.
1595. Southwell, Image of Death, 33. My youngers daily drop away, And can I think to ’scape alone?
1639. Ld. Digby, Lett. conc. Relig. (1651), 90. No false doctrine whatsoever can be admitted into the Church in any age, unless they of that age do unanimously conspire to deceive their children and yongers.
1742. Young, N. Th., IV. 22. I scarce can meet a monument, but holds My younger.
1836. Going to Service, viii. 87. [Lady’s maid loq.] It is very mortifying to be obliged to one’s youngers.
1872. Tennyson, Gareth & Lynette, 1380. Answer’d Sir Gareth graciously to one Not many a moon his younger.
3. (As sb. with pl. in -s.) A younger person: = JUNIOR B. (Chiefly, in later use only, in pl.; commonly contrasted with elder.)
c. 1449. Pecock, Repr., III. iv. 302. He muste nedis meene that he allowith oon to be grettist among hem, and that he in sum other maner louȝe him as a ȝonger.
1551. Robinson, trans. More’s Utopia, II. (1895), 164. To the intent that the sage grauitie … of the elders should kepe the yongers from wanton licence.
1595. Shaks., Merch. V., II. vi. 14. How like a yonger or a prodigall The skarfed barke puts from her natiue bay.
1658. Osborn, Queen Eliz., Ep. A 3 b. So have I a little wondred at Age, to finde it so tetchy, when Younger in years lay any claim to Knowledge.
a. 1734. North, Lives (1826), III. 175. The two youngers [of the family] were also well placed.
1885. Mozley, Remin., I. xxiv. 138. In 1823 all we youngers were at a small farmhouse between Filey and Scarborough.
1894. ‘Edna Lyall,’ To Right the Wrong, v. He himself was one of the despised youngers of the family.
C. Comb., as younger-born; younger-brotherish, -sisterish adjs. (nonce-wds.), having the character of a younger brother or sister.
1530. Palsgr., 291/2. Yongar borne, maisne.
1856. Lever, Martins of Cro’ M., lxv. His preference for the younger-born.
1864. Miss Yonge, Trial, v. She is painfully meek and younger-sisterish.
1885. Wingfield, Barb. Philpot, xii. To sell smiles to such a beggarly younger-brotherish runagate!
Hence Youngerly a. (U. S. colloq.), somewhat young (opp. to elderly); Youngership (rare), the condition of one who is younger, juniority.
1868. Church Union, 11 Jan. (Cent. Dict.). The life-blood of Christendom flows in the veins of her *youngerly men.
1611. Cotgr., Iuveignerie, *youngership.
1898–9. Ann. Rep. Bur. Amer. Ethnol., p. cxiii. The captive is thus doomed to perpetual youngership, if the term may be permitted—that is, to perpetual servitude.
