Definition of "bantling"

And I even question whether any tender virgin, who was accidentally and unaccountably enriched with a bantling, would save her character at parlour fire-sides and evening tea-parties, by ascribing the phenomenon to a swan, a shower of gold, or a river god.

1809, Washington Irving (as Dietrich Knickerbocker), A History of New-York from the Beginning of the World to the End of the Dutch Dynasty‎

"You!--half-grown, venison-hunting bantling!..."

1841, James Fenimore Cooper, The Deerslayer‎

"As if he'd let a cow-handed bantling like you handle them," Cecily muttered."Children!" Meredyth protested, her face flushing. "What must Lord Englemere think, to hear you brangle so?"

1999, The Wedding Gamble‎, page 104