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Glite Dictionary
to rob the cradle

to rob the cradle

2 8.7
Date or marry someone much younger, often seen as wrong by others
  • idiom
  • NSFW
translation icon : salir con alguien mucho más joven
  • Look, you may be tough but I don't rob the cradle.

Examples

  • You rob the cradle, Hal robs the graveyard, what a pair.

    The Stud (1978)

  • Her "Wizards of Waverly Place" co-star Jennifer Stone tweeted, "That's why you don't rob the cradle, because babes be trippin'."

    Blog text (31)

  • That she loves to rob the cradle.

    Fiction book (1990)

  • - Kind of robbing the cradle, ain't you?

    Honkytonk Man (1982)

  • The aunts said he was robbing the cradle.

    Fiction book (1994)

  • Jake is dating a girl who is ten years younger; he's definitely robbing the cradle.

  • When she saw her friend with a much younger partner, she jokingly said he was robbing the cradle.

  • It's surprising to see him with someone so young; people might think he's robbing the cradle.

Surface Forms

rob the cradle infinitive

Morphology

rob + the + cradle

The literal constituents 'rob' (to steal) and 'cradle' (an infant's bed) give a metaphorical cue—taking from the cradle suggests taking someone very young—but the leap to the specific sense 'to date or marry someone much younger' (and its social nuance) is not directly predictable from the words alone. This requires cultural or idiomatic knowledge beyond knowing the basic meanings, so it is partially transparent but not fully compositional.

Etymology

Rob the cradle may come from the image of someone actually taking a baby from a cradle. That shocking picture makes the big age difference clear, so today the phrase means 'to date or marry someone much younger'.