Word Study
stripling
CIDE DICTIONARY
stripling, n. [Dim. of strip; as if a small strip from the main stock or steam.].
A youth in the state of adolescence, or just passing from boyhood to manhood; a lad. [1913 Webster]
"Inquire thou whose son the stripling is." [1913 Webster]
OXFORD DICTIONARY
stripling, n. a youth not yet fully grown.
Etymology
ME, prob. f. STRIP(2) + -LING(1), in the sense of having a figure not yet filled out
THESAURUS
stripling
Young Turk, adolescent, arriviste, baby, boy, bright young man, comer, fledgling, hobbledehoy, hopeful, infant, junior, juvenal, juvenile, lad, laddie, minor, modern, modern generation, modern man, modernist, modernizer, neologism, neologist, neology, neonate, neoteric, neoterism, neoterist, new generation, new man, nouveau riche, novus homo, parvenu, pubescent, rising generation, sapling, schoolboy, slip, son, sprig, tad, teenager, teener, teenybopper, upstart, young hopeful, young man, young person, younger, youngest, youngling, youngster, youthROGET THESAURUS
stripling
Infant
N infant, babe, baby, babe in arms, nurseling, suckling, yearling, weanling, papoose, bambino, kid, vagitus, child, bairn, little one, brat, chit, pickaninny, urchin, bantling, bratling, elf, youth, boy, lad, stripling, youngster, youngun, younker, callant, whipster, whippersnapper, whiffet, schoolboy, hobbledehoy, hopeful, cadet, minor, master, scion, sap, seedling, tendril, olive branch, nestling, chicken, larva, chrysalis, tadpole, whelp, cub, pullet, fry, callow, codlin, codling, foetus, calf, colt, pup, foal, kitten, lamb, lambkin, aurelia, caterpillar, cocoon, nymph, nympha, orphan, pupa, staddle, girl, lass, lassie, wench, miss, damsel, demoiselle, maid, maiden, virgin, hoyden, infantine, infantile, puerile, boyish, girlish, childish, babyish, kittenish, baby, newborn, unfledged, new-fledged, callow, in the cradle, in swaddling clothes, in long clothes, in arms, in leading strings, at the breast, in one's teens.For further exploring for "stripling" in Webster Dictionary Online