babe (bab)

[ME. babe, prob. abbr. of earlier baban; origin obscure, perhaps ult. imitative; cf. ba2. The Celtic words (W. Gael. Ir. Corn. baban = Manx baban, bab, a babe, child; regarded by Skeat after Williams (Lex. Cornu-Brit.) as a mutation of * maban, dim. of W. mab, a son, = Gael. Ir. Manx mac, a son, = Goth. magus, a boy, = AS. magu, a son, related to may1, may, might ) are late, and may be from E.] 1. An infant; a young child of either sex. - 21. A child's doll. All as a poore pedler he did wend, Bearing a tru e of tryfles at hys backe, As bells, and babes , and gla es, in hys packe. Spenser, Shep. Cal., May. 3. One who is like a babe in any respect; a person of infantine or childish character or ability: as, he is a mere babe in that man's hands. Babe in arms. See arm1. - Babe in Christ, a recent convert to Christianity (1 Cor. iii. 1).