- To accustom (the young of a mammal) to take nourishment other than by suckling.
- To detach from that to which one is strongly habituated or devoted: She weaned herself from cigarettes.
- To accustom to something from an early age. Often used with on: "The northerners among the refugees ... were weaned on harsh weather and infertile soils and are known for their rigorous work ethic" (Lowell Weiss).
[Middle English wenen, from Old English wenian.]
USAGE NOTE In recent years weaned on has come to be widely used in the sense "raised on," as in Moviegoers weaned on theon sugar water. Hence a sentence like Paul was weaned on folk music may suggest metaphorically that Paul's exposure to folk music began from the time he stopped nursing, that is, from a very early age.
