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Weaning - 2 dictionary results
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wean

  [ween]
Use Weaning in a Sentence
–verb (used with object)
1. to accustom (a child or young animal) to food other than its mother's milk; cause to lose the need to suckle or turn to the mother for food.
2. to withdraw (a person, the affections, one's dependency, etc.) from some object, habit, form of enjoyment, or the like: The need to reduce had weaned us from rich desserts.
—Verb phrase
3. wean on, to accustom to; to familiarize with from, or as if from, childhood: a brilliant student weaned on the classics; suburban kids weaned on rock music.
Origin:
bef. 1000; ME wenen, OE wenian; c. D wennen, G gewöhnen, ON venja to accustom

Related forms:
wean⋅ed⋅ness  [wee-nid-nis, weend-] , noun
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
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Gerber Life Baby Ins.
Whole Life Baby Insurance For Families on a Limited Budget.
www.GerberLife.com/BabyInsurance
wean   (wēn)   
tr.v.   weaned, wean·ing, weans
  1. To accustom (the young of a mammal) to take nourishment other than by suckling.
  2. To detach from that to which one is strongly habituated or devoted: She weaned herself from cigarettes.
  3. 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; see wen-1 in Indo-European roots.]
Usage Note: In recent years weaned on has come to be widely used in the sense "raised on," as in Moviegoers weaned on the Star Trek TV series will doubtless find the film to their liking. A few critics have objected to this usage on the grounds that wean refers literally to a detachment from a source of nourishment. But the process of weaning involves a substitution of some other form of nourishment for mother's milk; thus it is sometimes said that a child is weaned onto or on 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.
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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