Dictionary

petling en · NOUN

Etymology

From pet + -ling.

Meanings

1. term of affection or endearment; darling.
   • The cause of his summary dethronement was, that Ma Betty, meaning it in affection, had called him her “heavenly petling." Jofiie objected, on the ground that, whatever she meant, “ heavenly petling” was in Monkeyish a term of insult. 1898 February, Mary J.H. Skrine, “How Clytemnestra Saved a Kingdom”, in Temple Bar:A London Magazine for Town and Country Readers, volume 113:
   • If thou return not, Gammer o'er her pail Will sing in sorrow, 'neath the brinded cow, And Gaffer sigh over his nut-brown ale; […] While evermore the petlings, with sad brow, Will look for thee upon the holly bough […] 1845, Thomas Cooper, The Purgatory of Suicides, Book the Fourth, Stanza IX:

Forms