Brewer's: Cub

An ill-mannered lout. The cub of a bear is said to have no shape until its dam has licked it into form.

A bear's a savage beast, of all Most ugly and unnatural; Whelped without form until the dam Has licked it into shape and frame.

Butler: Hudibras, i. 3.

Source: Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, E. Cobham Brewer, 1894
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