wean

Verb

wean (third-person singular simple present weans, present participle weaning, simple past and past participle weaned)

1. (transitive) To cease giving breast milk to an offspring; to accustom and reconcile (a child or young animal) to a want or deprivation of mother's milk; to take from the breast or udder.
   • The cow has weaned her calf.
   • Abraham made a great feast the same day that Isaac was weaned.1611, The Holy Bible, […] (King James Version), London: […] Robert Barker, […], →OCLC, Genesis 21:8
   1. (broadly, often, transitive, chiefly passive voice) To habituate (someone) to something, especially since childhood.
      • His generation was weaned on 1980's music.
2. (intransitive) To cease to depend on the mother's milk for nutrition.
   • The kittens are finally weaning.
3. (broadly, transitive) To cause to quit something to which one is addicted, dependent, or habituated.
   • He managed to wean himself off heroin.
   • With Marvin getting older ... and walking now ... I thought it was time to start weaning him off of his bottle.2004 May 3, Tom Armstrong, Marvin (comic)
4. (broadly, intransitive) To cease to depend.
   • She is weaning from her addiction to tobacco.
5. (broadly, obsolete, transitive) To raise, to help grow toward maturity
   • For they are friends that help to weane my ſtate,
     Till men and kingdomes help to ſtrengthen it: […]c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC...

Noun

IPA/ˈwiː(ə)n/

wean (plural weans)

1. (Scotland, others) A young child.
   • I, being but a yearling wean.1856, Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “Third Book”, in Aurora Leigh, London: Chapman and Hall, […], published 1857, →OCLC
   • And there were darker tales in the countryside, of weans stolen, of lassies misguided, of innocent beasts cruelly tortured, and in one and all there came in the name of the wife of the Skerburnfoot.1902, John Buchan, The Outgoing of the Tide

Proper noun capitalized: Wean

Wean

1. A locality in the Gunnedah council area and the Narrabri council area, northern New South Wales, Australia.