pet
see also: PET
Pronunciation
PET
Etymology
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.004
see also: PET
Pronunciation
- IPA: /pɛt/, [pʰɛt], [pʰɛʔ], [pʰɛʔt]
Attested since the 1500s in the sense "indulged child" and since the 1530s in the sense "animal companion". From Scots - and dialectal Northern English, of unclear origin.
The verb is derived from the noun.
Nounpet (plural pets)
- An animal kept as a companion.
- (by extension) Something kept as a companion, including inanimate objects. (pet rock, pet plant, etc.)
- 2015 September 15, Toby Fox, Undertale, Linux, Microsoft Windows, OS X:
- Papyrus: This is my brother's pet rock. He always forgets to feed it. As usual, I have to take responsibility.
- One who is excessively loyal to a superior and receives preferential treatment.
- Any person or animal especially cherished and indulged; a darling.
- 1847 December, Ellis Bell [pseudonym; Emily Brontë], chapter XIX, in Wuthering Heights: […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Thomas Cautley Newby, […], →OCLC ↗:
- At first she sat silent; but that could not last: she had resolved to make a pet of her little cousin, as she would have him to be; and she commenced stroking his curls, and kissing his cheek, and offering him tea in her saucer, like a baby.
- 1711 January 1 (Gregorian calendar), Isaac Bickerstaff [et al., pseudonyms; Richard Steele et al.], “Thursday, December 21, 1710”, in The Tatler, number 266; republished in [Richard Steele], editor, The Tatler, […], London stereotype edition, volume III, London: I. Walker and Co.; […], 1822, →OCLC ↗:
- the love of cronies, pets, and favourites
- The spelling has been modernized.
- French: animal de compagnie, animal familier, animal domestique
- German: Haustier, Heimtier, Stubentier, Lieblingstier
- Italian: animale da compagnia, animale d'affezione, animale domestico
- Portuguese: animal de estimação, animal de companhia, animal doméstico
- Russian: дома́шнее живо́тное
- Spanish: mascota, animal de compañía, animal doméstico, animal de compaña, animal acompañante, animal acompañador
- French: chouchou
- German: Liebling
- Italian: preferito, favorito, prediletto, beniamino, cocco, coccolo
- Russian: люби́мец
pet (pets, present participle petting; simple past and past participle petted)
- (transitive) To stroke or fondle (an animal).
- I really love to pet cute puppies.
- (transitive, intransitive, informal) To stroke or fondle (another person) amorously.
- We started petting each other the moment we were alone.
- 1970-1975, Lou Sullivan, personal diary, quoted in 2019, Ellis Martin, Zach Ozma (editors), We Both Laughed In Pleasure
- We kissed & petted for about 15 mins & he still wasn't hard, altho he acted like he was enjoying himself.
- (dated, transitive) To treat as a pet; to fondle; to indulge.
- His daughter was petted and spoiled.
- (archaic, intransitive) To be a pet.
- (archaic, intransitive) To be peevish; to sulk.
- 1623, Owen Feltham, Resolves: Divine, Moral, Political:
- He sure is queasie stomach't that must pet, and puke, at such a trivial circumstance
- (to stroke or fondle an animal) pat, smooth
- (to stroke or fondle amorously) feel up, grope, touch up; see also Thesaurus:fondle
- (to treat as a pet) coddle, cosset; see also Thesaurus:pamper
- (to be peevish) mope, pout
- French: caresser
- German: streicheln
- Italian: accarezzare
- Portuguese: acariciar
- Russian: ласка́ть
- Spanish: acariciar, popar
- French: peloter
- German: streicheln
- Portuguese: acariciar, fazer carinho
- Russian: ласка́ть
- Spanish: acariciar
- French: se peloter
- Russian: ласка́ться
pet (not comparable)
- Favourite; cherished; the focus of one's (usually positive) attention.
- a pet child
- The professor seemed offended by the criticism of her pet theory.
- 1886, Frederic Harrison, The Choice of Books:
- Some young lady's pet curate.
- 1875, William Conant Church, The Galaxy, page 141:
- Major Butler has a pet grievance and a pet aversion, which he forces on the reader in every chapter, and which becomes at last very wearisome.
- 1991, Deborah G. Douglas, United States Women in Aviation, 1940-1985, page 9:
- In an interview with Flying magazine, Heberding commented that her pet annoyance was "the reluctance of people generally to accept a woman whether as a pilot or a preflight inspector."
- Kept or treated as a pet.
- pet rock
- (obsolete) Good; ideal.
- 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London, Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC ↗:
- “Now,” said Hands, “look there; there’s a pet bit for to beach a ship in. Fine flat sand, never a cat's paw, trees all around of it, and flowers a-blowing like a garding on that old ship.”
- French: fétiche
- French: de compagnie
- Portuguese: de estimação
pet (plural pets)
- A fit of petulance, a sulk, arising from the impression that one has been offended or slighted.
- 1848 November – 1850 December, William Makepeace Thackeray, chapter 3, in The History of Pendennis. […], volume (please specify |volume=I or II), London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published 1849–1850, →OCLC ↗:
- His genius at this time was of a decidedly gloomy cast. He brought his mother a tragedy, in which, though he killed sixteen people before the second act, it made her laugh so, that he thrust the masterpiece into the fire in a pet.
- 1922 February, James Joyce, “[Episode 1]”, in Ulysses, Paris: Shakespeare and Company, […], →OCLC ↗:
- Buck Mulligan sat down in a sudden pet.
pet (plural pets)
- Abbreviation of petition
pet (plural pets)
- (Ireland, Geordie) A term of endearment usually applied to women and children.
PET
Etymology
The name of the computer () derives from the 1970s pet rock fad; the acronym was invented afterwards.
Nounpet
- (uncountable, organic compound) Initialism of polyethylene terephthalate
- (countable, medicine) Acronym of positron emission tomography
- (countable, genetics) Acronym of paired-end tag
(countable, historical, computing, backronym) Acronym of personal electronic transactor, a line of personal computers produced by Commodore International.
- (Canadian politics) Init of w:Pierre Trudeau
This text is extracted from the Wiktionary and it is available under the CC BY-SA 3.0 license | Terms and conditions | Privacy policy 0.004
