Definition

Noun 1. A garment for an infant: Long, narrow strips of cloth or a gown used to wrap a newborn baby snugly, restricting its movement. 2. Restrictions placed on the immature: A metaphorical term for the limitations, rules, or controlling influences that are placed on someone or something in its early stages of development.

Usage

• The term is most commonly used in its literal, historical sense to describe infant clothing.
• The metaphorical usage is formal or literary, referring to constraints on new ideas, projects, or freedoms.

Examples

• Literal (Garment):
  • In many ancient cultures, newborns were wrapped in swaddling clothes to keep them warm and secure.
  • The painting depicted the baby Jesus in simple swaddling clothes.
• Metaphorical (Restrictions):
  • The new policy is still in its swaddling clothes, bound by numerous bureaucratic procedures.
  • The revolutionary theory struggled to break free from the swaddling clothes of traditional thought.

Advanced Usage

• "In swaddling clothes": Used to describe something in its earliest, most restricted phase.
  • The project is still in swaddling clothes and needs careful guidance.
• "Out of swaddling clothes": Describes something that has moved past its initial, highly controlled phase.
  • The company is finally out of its swaddling clothes and ready to compete independently.

Variants and Related Words

• Swaddle (verb): To wrap (a baby, or metaphorically, an idea) tightly with cloth or in restrictions.
  • She gently swaddled the infant.
  • The artist felt swaddled by the gallery's conservative rules.
• Swaddling bands (noun phrase): Another term for the strips of cloth used for swaddling.

Synonyms

• Literal: Wrapping bands, infant binders, baby wraps.
• Metaphorical: Leading strings, shackles, constraints, trammels.

Related Idioms

• "Tied to one's mother's apron strings": While not identical, this idiom shares the conceptual space of being under restrictive, immature control, though it applies to an older child.

Noun

1. restrictions placed on the immature
2. a garment (a gown or narrow strips of cloth) for an infant