noun
gadling
Gadling (noun) means a close companion, especially one who fights alongside you.
noun
1
A close companion, especially one who fights alongside you.
2
Someone who wanders from place to place with no fixed home.
"I'm delighted to see you. You're as brown, my gadling, as though you had returned from another journey to the East with Jean de Village."
— Thomas Bertram Costain, The Moneyman (1947)
3
A person of low social standing; originally a friendly word for a companion, later used as an insult.
"“Pest on him!” said De Aquila. “I have more to do than to shiver in the Great Hall for every gadling the King sends. Left he no word?”"
— Rudyard Kipling, Puck of Pook's Hill (1906)
4
A spike fixed to a gauntlet.
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Etymology
Comes from Middle English gadelyng (‘companion in arms; man, fellow; a person of low birth; rascal, scoundrel; bastard; base, lowborn’) and gadeling (‘vagabond’), which developed from Old English geaduling, gædeling (‘kinsman, fellow, companion in arms, comrade’), from Proto-West Germanic *gaduling, from Proto-Germanic *gadulingaz, *gadilingaz (‘relative, kinsman’), made up of gad and -ling. It is related to Old English ġegada (‘comrade, companion’).
Frequently asked questions
What is the meaning of gadling?
"gadling" (noun) means a close companion, especially one who fights alongside you.
What are the different meanings of gadling?
"gadling" has 3 main meanings: 1. A close companion, especially one who fights alongside you; 2. Someone who wanders from place to place with no fixed home; 3. A person of low social standing; originally a friendly word for a companion, later used as an insult.
