View synonyms for petting

petting

[ pet-ing ]

Phonetic (Standard)IPA

noun

the act of fondling or caressing:
Petting or massage may help calm a stressed or hyperactive dog.
Informal. kissing, caressing, and other sexual activity between partners that does not involve sexual intercourse. Compare heavy petting.
the present participle of pet ¹.

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Origin of petting¹

First recorded in 1870–75; pet ¹ + -ing ¹

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Just look at her pointed ears, perking up at the mere signal of incoming petting — anywhere on her body will do.

The robot will also “go to sleep” after extensive petting — in order to save on charge, one assumes.

As we've always suspected, the promise ring wearing Jonas was the king of heavy petting.

This time, Hannah was soaking her feet in water and DiMaggio was petting his cat, Princess.

We were doing all that heavy petting and humping and kissing and he got me with that line, “Just let me put the head in.”

But most important, they had a special petting session with Bo, the tail-wagging star of the season.

I did some light dieting in the hope of being on-camera and petting a dog, in the next week or two, as per my dream.

It is astonishing how much petting a big boy of ten can endure when he is quite sure that there is no one to laugh at him.

There was sure to be a tonic in her petting, and Ikey got up and washed his face, looking bravely in the glass meanwhile.

Nobody else lives in such an atmosphere of petting, and has so little to plague them.

I think you hoped Mrs. Harrison would appear ridiculous by petting another child while thinking it was her own.

When Mr. Benedict came forth from the little cabin, and found Jim chaffing and petting his boy, he was much embarrassed.

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