Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • noun An animal kept for enjoyment or companionship.
  • noun An object of the affections.
  • noun A person especially loved or indulged; a favorite.
  • adjective Kept as a pet.
  • adjective Particularly cherished or indulged.
  • adjective Expressing or showing affection.
  • adjective Being a favorite.
  • intransitive verb To stroke or caress gently. synonym: caress.
  • intransitive verb To stroke or fondle amorously.
  • noun A fit of bad temper or pique.
  • intransitive verb To be sulky and peevish.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A fit, as of peevishness, ill humor, or discontent.
  • To be peevish or cross; sulk.
  • To make peevish; pique; offend; make cross.
  • To treat as a pet; fondle; indulge: as, to pet a child or a kitten.
  • noun Any domesticated or tamed animal, as a dog, a squirrel, or a dove, that is fondled and indulged; in particular, a lamb brought up by hand; a cadelamb; in general, a fondling.
  • noun A darling or favorite child; one who is fondled and indulged or treated with peculiar kindness or favor; also, a spoiled child; a wilful young woman.
  • Fondled and indulged: as, a pet lamb; a pet rabbit; a pet pigeon.
  • Favored; favorite; cherished: as, a pet theory.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • adjective Petted; indulged; admired; cherished
  • adjective (Mach.) A little faucet in a water pipe or pump, to let air out, or at the end of a steam cylinder, to drain it.
  • noun A cade lamb; a lamb brought up by hand.
  • noun Any person especially cherished and indulged; a fondling; a darling; often, a favorite child.
  • noun A slight fit of peevishness or fretfulness.
  • noun Any animal kept as a companion, usually in or around one's home, typically domesticated and cared for attentively and often affectionately. Distinguished from animals raised for food or to perform useful tasks, as a draft animal.
  • intransitive verb To be a pet.
  • transitive verb To treat as a pet; to fondle; to indulge.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • noun Geordie A term of endearment usually applied to women and children.
  • noun Abbreviation of petition.
  • noun A fit of petulance, a sulk, arising from the impression that one has been offended or slighted.
  • noun An animal kept as a companion.
  • noun One who is excessively loyal to their superior.
  • verb transitive To stroke or fondle (an animal).
  • verb transitive, informal To stroke or fondle (another person) amorously.
  • verb intransitive, informal Of two or more people, to stroke and fondle one another amorously.
  • verb archaic, intransitive To be a pet.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun a domesticated animal kept for companionship or amusement
  • verb stroke or caress in an erotic manner, as during lovemaking
  • noun a special loved one
  • noun using a computerized radiographic technique to examine the metabolic activity in various tissues (especially in the brain)
  • adjective preferred above all others and treated with partiality
  • verb stroke or caress gently
  • noun a fit of petulance or sulkiness (especially at what is felt to be a slight)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Scottish Gaelic peata, tame animal, pet, from Old Irish.]

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Origin unknown.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Diminutive of petal.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Abbreviation of petition.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Origin unknown.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

Originally from Northern English and Scots dialects, origin is unsure but may have arisen due to influence of petty pertaining to children and later companion animals. Almost certainly of Germanic etymology.

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Examples

  • Some have pet dogs, some have pet cats: then why not a _pet quiz? _ "

    Tales and Novels — Volume 03 Maria Edgeworth 1808

  • No shelf of nature books would be complete without a volume examining the bond between people and those animal species we have invited into our homes—that rich, reciprocal process of domestication for which the term "pet" seems trivializing.

    Dispatches From the Natural World 2011

  • My family, and a few friends, find the term pet sitter humorous, and a bit extragant.

    News & Record Article Feed 2009

  • Losing a pet is the worst feeling .... don't give up I'm sure she will be found!!

    chien perdu - French Word-A-Day 2009

  • Raising them and keeping one as a pet is a very comparative experience to having a dog.

    Dogs, Pigs and Death | Heretical Ideas Magazine 2009

  • I feel that having a pet is a much more selfish move, because a pet does not require the same amount of caring as a kid.

    Green Chili Pickle Anjali 2009

  • If your pet is a cat, substitute gatito for perrito.

    Traveling with dogs (and cats) in Mexico 2009

  • If your pet is a cat, substitute gatito for perrito.

    Traveling with dogs (and cats) in Mexico 2009

  • But it's not at all clear, bestiality issues aside, that going through a wedding ritual to a pet is any more wrong than holding a funeral rite for a cat.

    Carry-Over Thread 2007

  • BLITZER: What do you say to the president who spoke about what he called your pet spending projects -- money that has nothing to do with the war in Iraq or Afghanistan, but for fishermen, peanut storage, spinach farmers, the milk industry -- that you've attached all this -- this other funding into this legislation, which has nothing do with the emergency spending needed for the war?

    CNN Transcript Mar 23, 2007 2007

  • Johnson has fought to eliminate stockpiles of pet coke, a byproduct of oil refining, that were stored at the nearby port and sending clouds of toxic black dust into her neighborhood.

    Revealed: the 10 worst places to live in US for air pollution Erin McCormick 2023

Comments

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  • Thus was Donna Helena snatched from me. She threw herself into the arms of Combados in a pet, not listening to the secret whispers of love within her breast, nor suspecting a story which ought to have seemed so improbable in the annals of true passion.

    - Lesage, The Adventures of Gil Blas of Santillane, tr. Smollett, bk 9 ch. 6

    October 8, 2008