SUCKLE

Pronunciation (US):

(GB):

IPA (US):

 Dictionary entry overview: What does suckle mean? 

• SUCKLE (verb)
  The verb SUCKLE has 2 senses:

1. suck milk from the mother's breasts

2. give suck to

  Familiarity information: SUCKLE used as a verb is rare.

 Dictionary entry details 

• SUCKLE (verb)

Present simple: I / you / we / they suckle    ... he / she / it suckles   
Past simple: suckled   
Past participle: suckled   
-ing form: suckling   

Sense 1

Meaning:

Suck milk from the mother's breasts

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Context example:

the infant was suckling happily

Hypernyms (to "suckle" is one way to...):

eat; feed (take in food; used of animals only)

"Suckle" entails doing...:

drink; imbibe (take in liquids)

Sentence frame:

Somebody ----s

Sentence example:

The animals suckle

Sense 2

Meaning:

Give suck to

Classified under:

Verbs of eating and drinking

Synonyms:

breastfeed; give suck; lactate; nurse; suck; suckle; wet-nurse

Context example:

You cannot nurse your baby in public in some places

Hypernyms (to "suckle" is one way to...):

feed; give (give food to)

Verb group:

suck (draw into the mouth by creating a practical vacuum in the mouth)

Sentence frames:

Somebody ----s
Somebody ----s somebody

 Context examples 

She was sitting by the fire, suckling an infant, whose tiny hand she held against her neck.

(David Copperfield, by Charles Dickens)

“Plainly said and bravely spoken, my suckling friar,” roared a deep voice, and a heavy hand fell upon Alleyne's shoulder.

(The White Company, by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle)

He took me up in his right fore-foot and held me as a nurse does a child she is going to suckle, just as I have seen the same sort of creature do with a kitten in Europe; and when I offered to struggle he squeezed me so hard, that I thought it more prudent to submit.

(Gulliver's Travels into several remote nations of the world, by Jonathan Swift)

Then he carried the child away to a secret place, where a nurse was obliged to suckle it, and he ran to the king and accused the queen of having allowed her child to be taken from her by the wild beasts.

(Fairy Tales, by The Brothers Grimm)