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to suckle

to suckle

19 5.5
To drink milk from a mother's breast or an animal's udder
  • verb
  • /ˈsʌkəl/
translation icon : amamantar
  • Windy carefully cradled the suckling baby to her, took a step forward, and then almost turned to stone.
  • suckle a baby
  • mother suckles
  • suckle the twins

So the baby's trying to like suckle milk and it's baby rhino squeak.

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Examples

  • In the wild, wolf pups suckle until they are old enough to eat solid food.

  • That wolf found them and she suckled them on her milk.

  • When the baby starts to suckle, melt does not come out immediately.

  • And it's, uh, its cub is trying to suckle at it, you know?

  • One mother may suckle the other's offspring while the other mother is "at work" foraging.

    Academic text (2009)
  • A little girl led me to the Hebrew woman Yochabel, that the child might be suckled by his true mother.

  • The women often had babies slung across a hip or suckling from an open shirtfront.

    Fiction book (1994)
  • In the orb of light of a single candle, Nanon lay abed, suckling a tiny jet-black infant.

    Fiction book (2000)
  • The mother cat gently suckled her kittens, providing them with the nourishment they needed.

  • During her first few weeks, the baby deer was often found suckling close to its mother.

Synonyms

to suck
vsto suckle
85 2.5

To feed a baby or young animal with milk from its mother

also includes being fed as well as feeding
to nurse
vsto suckle
54 2.3

To feed a baby with your milk

also covers being fed in addition to feeding others
to breastfeed
vsto suckle
23 2.6

Give a baby milk directly from the mother's breast

applies more widely to feeding from breast or udder including animals
to lactate
vsto suckle
  • Specialized
6 6.2

To produce and give milk to a baby or young animal

focuses on the act of feeding rather than milk production
to give suck
vsto suckle
  • Archaic
1 9.8

To feed a baby or young animal from the breast

can also mean being fed rather than only feeding

Surface Forms

suckle infinitive
suckled past
suckled past participle
suckling present participle
suckles third person singular

Morphology

suckle = suck (transparent) = suck + le

Formed from the verb 'suck' with the verbalizing/frequentative suffix '-le', so the meaning 'to feed at the breast' is directly related to 'suck'.

Etymology

The word suckle comes from the simple verb suck, which means 'to take into the mouth'. So to suckle is to feed or be fed with milk from the breast or udder, just like a baby or a young animal does.