airling

Noun

airling (plural airlings)

1. (archaic) A thoughtless, light-hearted person.
   • Some more there be, slight airlings, will be won
     With dogs and horses, or perhaps a whore.1611, Ben[jamin] Jonson, Catiline His Conspiracy, London: […] [William Stansby?] for Walter Burre, →OCLC, (please specify the page)
   • 'Airling!' John remarked, after a glance at his brother's magnificence.2011, Georgette Heyer, My Lord John, page 320

   Synonyms:

   airhead, luftmensch

2. (poetic) A creature of the air, such as a bird, fairy, etc.
   • This queen immortal loved the knight, And so she sent an airling brood To lead him thro ' the bosky wood Until he knew no left nor right; And as he paused upon a steep That rose from out a fountain place, They sprinkled dew-drops on his face, And so he fell asleep.1855, Thomas Bailey Aldrich, The Bells: A Collection of Chimes, page 37
   • In the pointed bill, the gradually enlarging head and neck, we behold a ready means of penetrating the yelding air, the fine turned and prow-like breast, flexible and idispensable rudder, tail, the balanced and buoyant wings, the feathery investment of body, all permeated with air-cells, the hollow...1873, "Ornithon", “Ornithology: A Plea for the Birds”, in Transactions of the Illinois State Agricultural Society, page 180