child (chīld)
n., pl., chil·dren (chĭl'drən).

1. 1. A person between birth and puberty.
   2. A person who has not attained maturity or the age of legal majority.
2. 1. An unborn infant; a fetus.
   2. An infant; a baby.
3. One who is childish or immature.
4. A son or daughter; an offspring.
5. A member of a tribe; descendant: children of Abraham.
6. 1. An individual regarded as strongly affected by another or by a specified time, place, or circumstance: a child of nature; a child of the Sixties.
   2. A product or result of something specified: "Times Square is a child of the 20th century" (Richard F. Shepard).

idiom:

with child

1. Pregnant.

[Middle English, from Old English cild.]

childless child'less adj.
childlessness child'less·ness n.

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The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition Copyright © 2007, 2000 by Houghton Mifflin Company. Updated in 2009. Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.

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