child

*with child

Euph. pregnant. (Biblical. *Typically: be ~; get a woman ~.) The first thing he did after he got married was to get his wife with child. She deliberately set out to get herself with child, as they say.

A burnt child dreads the fire.

Prov. If something has hurt you once, you avoid it after that. (See also .) Jill: Let's go ride the roller coaster! Jane: No, thanks. I got sick on one of those once, and a burnt child dreads the fire. Ever since Cynthia rebuffed me so rudely, I've avoided asking her for anything; a burnt child dreads the fire.

See also: burnt, fire

child is father of the man and child is father to the man

Prov. People's personalities form when they are children; A person will have the same qualities as an adult that he or she had as a child. (From William Wordsworth's poem, "My Heart Leaps Up.") In Bill's case, the child was father of the man; he never lost his childhood delight in observing nature.

See also: father, man

child's play

something very easy to do. The test was child's play to those who took good notes. Finding the right street was child's play with a map.

See also: play

It is a wise child that knows its own father.

Prov. You can never have certain proof that a certain man is your father. (Implies that the child in question might be illegitimate.) It is a wise child that knows its own father, but Emily is so much like her dad that there's very little uncertainty.

See also: father, know, wise

Monday's child is fair of face.

Prov. A child born on Monday will be good-looking. (This comes from a rhyme that tells what children will be like, according to which day they are born: "Monday's child is fair of face, / Tuesday's child is full of grace, / Wednesday's child is full of woe, / Thursday's child has far to go, / Friday's child is loving and giving, / Saturday's child works hard for a living, / But a child that is born on the Sabbath day / Is blithe and bonny, good and gay.") Joan is so pretty, she must be a Monday's child. Monday's child is fair of face.

See also: face, fair

poster child (for something)

Fig. someone who is a classic example of a state or type of person. She is a poster child for soccer moms.

spare the rod and spoil the child.

Prov. You should punish a child when he or she misbehaves, because if you do not, the child will grow up expecting everyone to indulge him or her. Jane: How can you allow your little boy to be so rude? Ellen: It distresses me to punish him. Jane: lean understand that, but spare the rod and spoil the child.

See also: and, rod, spare, spoil

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a latchkey child/kid  (mainly American)

a child who is often in the house alone because both parents are at work My dad came home at seven in the evening and my mom only an hour earlier so I was a latchkey kid.

a love child

a child whose parents are not married to each other He allegedly has a love child in Australia from an affair with a much younger woman.

See also: love

be child's play

to be very easy Using this new computer is child's play.

See also: play

be like a child in a sweetshop  (British)

to be very happy and excited about the things around you, and often to react to them in a way which is silly and not controlled Give him a room full of old books and he's like a child in a sweetshop.

See also: like

be with child  (old-fashioned)

to be pregnant Emily was unable to make the journey, being heavy with child.

the [child/house/mother, etc.] from hell  (humorous)

the worst or most unpleasant person or thing of that type that anyone can imagine His mother's awful. She really is the mother-in-law from hell.

See also: hell

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with child

pregnant She went back to her parents' home when she discovered she was with child.

Usage notes: used by people who think it is not polite to say pregnant, or for humorous effect