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foundling

[found-ling]

Origin

noun

an infant or small child found abandoned; a child without a known parent or guardian.

Origin:
1250–1300; Middle English found(e)ling. See found¹, -ling¹

Can be confused: fondling, foundling.

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Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2012.
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Foundling is always a great word to know.

So is slumgullion. Does it mean:

a stew of meat, vegetables, potatoes, etc.

a gadget; dingus; thingumbob.

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Collins

World English Dictionary

foundling (ˈfaʊndlɪŋ)

—n
	an abandoned infant whose parents are not known

[C13: foundeling; see find]

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition
2009 © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009
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Etymonline

Word Origin & History

foundling

"deserted infant," c.1300, from M.E. founden "found," pp. of finden (see find) + dim. suffix -ling.

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Related Words

fondle

foundling hospital

Matching Quote

"I feel more charity for a Mormon who has been taught from his birth that it is not only his right but his duty to God to enter into plural marriages, and that the man who has the greatest number of wives stands highest in God's favor, than I do for the man who has been taught from his cradle that the unpardonable sin is the desecration of womanhood; whose religious training and the moral code of civilization in which he is reared make it a crime to violate the Seventh Commandment and the established law of monogamy. Yet, judging from the testimony we see all about us—our ... lying-in and foundling hospitals and our fallen womanhood—the married or single man who lives a pure life is rare."

-Susan B. Anthony

foundling

found·ling