English
pet
see also: PET
Pronunciation
  • IPA: /pɛt/, [pʰɛt], [pʰɛʔ], [pʰɛʔt]
Etymology 1

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.

Noun

pet (plural pets)

  1. An animal kept as a companion.
  2. (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.
  3. One who is excessively loyal to a superior and receives preferential treatment.
  4. 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.
Synonyms Translations Translations Translations Verb

pet (pets, present participle petting; simple past and past participle petted)

  1. (transitive) To stroke or fondle (an animal).
    I really love to pet cute puppies.
  2. (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.
  3. (dated, transitive) To treat as a pet; to fondle; to indulge.
    His daughter was petted and spoiled.
  4. (archaic, intransitive) To be a pet.
  5. (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
Synonyms Translations Translations Translations Adjective

pet (not comparable)

  1. 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."
  2. Kept or treated as a pet.
    pet rock
  3. (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.”
Translations Translations
  • French: de compagnie
  • Portuguese: de estimação
Noun

pet (plural pets)

  1. 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.
Noun

pet (plural pets)

  1. Abbreviation of petition
Noun

pet (plural pets)

  1. (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.

Noun

pet

  1. (uncountable, organic compound) Initialism of polyethylene terephthalate
    Coordinate terms: Dacron, Terylene, PE, PEF, PETG
  2. (countable, medicine) Acronym of positron emission tomography
  3. (countable, genetics) Acronym of paired-end tag
  4. (countable, historical, computing, backronym) Acronym of personal electronic transactor, a line of personal computers produced by Commodore International.
Proper noun
  1. (Canadian politics) Init of w:Pierre Trudeau


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