changeling

changeling
    n 1: a person of subnormal intelligence [syn: {idiot},
         {imbecile}, {cretin}, {moron}, {changeling}, {half-wit},
         {retard}]
    2: a child secretly exchanged for another in infancy
    

Changeling \Change"ling\, a.
   1. Taken or left in place of another; changed. "A little
      changeling boy." --Shak.
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   2. Given to change; inconstant. [Obs.]
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            Some are so studiously changeling.    --Boyle.
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Changeling \Change"ling\, n. [Change + -ling.]
   1. One who, or that which, is left or taken in the place of
      another, as a child exchanged by fairies.
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            Such, men do changelings call, so changed by
            fairies' theft.                       --Spenser.
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            The changeling [a substituted writing] never known.
                                                  --Shak.
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   2. A simpleton; an idiot. --Macaulay.
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            Changelings and fools of heaven, and thence shut
            out.
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            Wildly we roam in discontent about. --Dryden.
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   3. One apt to change; a waverer. "Fickle changelings."
      --Shak.
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58 Moby Thesaurus words for "changeling":
      agent, alternate, alternative, analogy, backup, change, comparison,
      copy, counterfeit, deputy, double, dummy, elf child, equal,
      equivalent, ersatz, exchange, fake, fill-in, ghost, ghostwriter,
      imitation, locum tenens, makeshift, metaphor, metonymy,
      next best thing, personnel, phony, pinch hitter, proxy, relief,
      replacement, representative, reserves, ringer, second string,
      secondary, sign, spares, stand-in, sub, substituent, substitute,
      substitution, succedaneum, superseder, supplanter, surrogate,
      symbol, synecdoche, third string, token, understudy,
      utility player, vicar, vice-president, vice-regent