a. (adv.) [f. as prec. + LIKE a. and adv.: a reconstruction of the same elements that appear in CHILDLY.]
1. Belonging to or becoming a child; filial.
1586. T. B., La Primaud. Fr. Acad. (1594), I. 264. This childlike feare, which is unseparablie joined with the true love we owe to our common Father.
1591. Shaks., Two Gent., III. i. 75. I thought the remnant of mine age Should haue beene cherish’d by her child-like dutie.
1597. Hooker, Eccl. Pol., V. § 8 (J.). Who can owe no lesse then childlike obedience to her that hath more then motherly power.
2. Like a child; (of qualities, actions, etc.) like those of a child, characteristic of a child. Almost always in a good sense, with reference to the innocence, meekness, etc., of children; opposed to childish, which is generally used in a bad sense.
1738. Wesley, Psalms xxxii. vii. I will instruct the childlike Heart.
1825. Southey, Paraguay, I. 17. To place a child-like trust in Providence.
1840. De Quincey, Mod. Superstit., Wks. (1854), III. 295. In no subject is the difference between the childish and the childlike more touchingly brought forward.
1866. R. Chambers, Ess., II. 194. Mr. Fox was marked by a childlike simplicity.
B. adv. Like a child; childishly.
1725. Pope, Odyss., XV. 489. Him, child-like wand’ring forth, I’ll lead away.
1868. Pall Mall Gaz., 2 Dec., 11/2. The plot … is … simple as a nursery narrative, ‘child-like easy.’
