/ ˈbeɪbi; NAmE / noun , adjective , verb
■ noun ( pl. -ies )
1.
a very young child or animal :
The baby's crying!
a newborn baby
My sister's expecting a baby .
She had a baby last year.
a baby boy / girl
baby food / clothes
a baby monkey / blackbird
2.
( informal ) the youngest member of a family or group :
He's the baby of the team.
3.
( disapproving ) a person who behaves like a young child and is easily upset :
Stop crying and don't be such a baby.
4.
( slang , especially NAmE ) a word used to address sb, especially your wife, husband or lover, in a way that expresses affection but that can be offensive if used by a man to a woman he does not know
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IDIOMS
- be your / sb's baby
- leave sb holding the baby
- throw the baby out with the bathwater
—more at candy , sleep verb
■ adjective
[ only before noun ] baby vegetables are a very small version of particular vegetables, or are picked when they are very small :
baby carrots
■ verb
( ba·bies , baby·ing , ba·bied , ba·bied ) [ vn ] to treat sb with too much care, as if they were a baby
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WORD ORIGIN
late Middle English : probably imitative of an infant's first attempts at speech.