Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun A male adolescent or young adult.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A youth in the state of adolescence, or just passing from boyhood to manhood; a lad.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • noun A youth in the state of adolescence, or just passing from boyhood to manhood; a lad.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun archaic A youth in the state of adolescence, or just passing from boyhood to manhood; a lad.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a juvenile between the onset of puberty and maturity

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English, possibly from strip, strip; see strip.]

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Examples

  • Thus then I should meet this titled stripling -- the son of my father's friend.

    The Last Man 1826

  • Thus then I should meet this titled stripling -- the son of my father's friend.

    The Last Man Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley 1824

  • Thus then I should meet this titled stripling — the son of my father’s friend.

    The Last Man 2003

  • I wasn't exactly what you'd call a stripling of a girl.

    Let This Entertain You: 'Gypsy,' 50 Years Later 2009

  • Froude says of him, “The stripling was the same person as the statesman at seventy, with this difference only, that the affectation which was natural in the boy was itself affected in the matured politician, whom it served well for a mask, or as a suit of impenetrable armor.”

    Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great Hubbard, Elbert, 1856-1915 1916

  • Froude says of him, "The stripling was the same person as the statesman at seventy, with this difference only, that the affectation which was natural in the boy was itself affected in the matured politician, whom it served well for a mask, or as a suit of impenetrable armor."

    Little Journeys to the Homes of the Great - Volume 05 Little Journeys to the Homes of English Authors Elbert Hubbard 1885

  • In short, he was young, cute, small and completely non-threatening – the kind of stripling I found irresistibly attractive when, at the age of twenty-four, I finally plucked up the courage to post a profile on a dating website and Go Out With A Boy.

    Archive 2008-01-01 2008

  • In short, he was young, cute, small and completely non-threatening – the kind of stripling I found irresistibly attractive when, at the age of twenty-four, I finally plucked up the courage to post a profile on a dating website and Go Out With A Boy.

    and so it begins 2008

  • In short, he was young, cute, small and completely non-threatening – the kind of stripling I found irresistibly attractive when, at the age of twenty-four, I finally plucked up the courage to post a profile on a dating website and Go Out With A Boy.

    Archive 2007-04-01 2007

  • In short, he was young, cute, small and completely non-threatening – the kind of stripling I found irresistibly attractive when, at the age of twenty-four, I finally plucked up the courage to post a profile on a dating website and Go Out With A Boy.

    not getting any younger 2007

Comments

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  • Citation on hey-go-mad.

    September 18, 2008