# pet

Pronunciation: say "PET" /pɛt/

## Noun

1. An animal, or jokingly an object or plant, kept for companionship or pleasure rather than for work.
   - Simple: An animal you keep at home for company and fun, such as a dog or cat.
   - _Apartment buildings often limit the number of pets a tenant may keep._
   - _After retiring, he adopted a pet to keep him company on long afternoons._
5. A person treated as a favorite and given special attention or treatment, sometimes resented by others, as in 'teacher's pet'.
   - Simple: Someone who is liked best and treated better than others, as in 'the teacher's pet'.
   - _As the only grandchild, she was the pet of the entire family._
   - _The new intern quickly became the pet of the senior partners, who gave him the best cases._
8. An affectionate form of address, used chiefly for women and children, similar to 'dear' or 'sweetheart'. *(dialectal, Geordie, Ireland)*
   - Simple: A kind, loving name you call someone, like 'dear' or 'sweetheart'.
   - _'There you are, pet,' the waitress said, setting down the tea._
   - _Don't cry, pet; we'll find your mittens._
9. A fit of sulking or ill humor arising from the feeling of having been offended or slighted.
   - Simple: A short time of being angry and silent because you feel insulted.
   - _He stormed out in a pet after the committee rejected his proposal._
   - _Over so small a slight, she took a pet that lasted the whole evening._

## Adjective

2. Kept or treated as a companion animal rather than living wild or being used for work.
   - Simple: Kept at home as a companion animal, not wild and not used for work.
   - _Escaped pet parrots have formed wild colonies in several American cities._
   - _Unlike the working dogs on the ranch, their pet terrier spent most days asleep on the couch._
4. Favorite; cherished; the particular, usually approving, focus of someone's attention.
   - Simple: Given special attention by someone, usually as a favorite (a pet project) but sometimes as a dislike (a pet peeve).
   - _The senator's pet cause this session is rural broadband._
   - _Every professor seems to have a pet theory about why enrollment keeps falling._

## Verb

3. To stroke or fondle an animal, typically with gentle movements of the hand.
   - Simple: To touch or rub an animal gently with your hand.
   - _Visitors may pet the goats in the children's area of the zoo._
   - _He petted the nervous horse until it stopped stamping._
6. To stroke or fondle another person in an amorous way. *(colloquial)*
   - Simple: To kiss and touch someone in a romantic way.
   - _Back in high school they spent whole evenings petting in his car outside her parents' house._
   - _At the dance, the chaperones made sure nobody snuck off to pet behind the gym._

## Verb

7. To treat someone as a favorite; to fondle, coddle, or indulge them. *(dated)*
   - Simple: To give someone lots of love and special treatment, like spoiling a child.
   - _His mother would pet him shamelessly, and he grew up expecting the same from everyone._
   - _As the only grandchild, he was petted by every relative and rarely heard the word no._
10. To live as a kept and cherished companion animal. *(archaic)*
   - Simple: To live in someone's home as a loved animal.

## Adjective

11. Good; ideal; thoroughly agreeable or perfectly suited to the occasion. *(obsolete)*
   - Simple: Very good or exactly right for the purpose.

## Other meanings

- (verb) To be petulant or put out, or to balk at doing something, as in won't pet to.
- (noun) Short for petition: a formal written request, especially one filed with a court asking for a ruling or order.

## Origin

**Meanings 1–7, 10–11** — The word began in northern dialect and was taken from Scots "pet," which meant a darling or favorite, a tamed animal kept as a pet, or a spoiled child. Scots probably took it from "peata," a Scottish Gaelic word for a pet, a tamed animal, or a spoiled child, and that came from Middle Irish "petta" or "peta" (pet, lap-dog). Where it ultimately comes from is uncertain, perhaps a pre-Indo-European substrate. The verb was formed from the noun.
**Meaning 9** — A clipping of "petulance."
**Meaning 8** — A clipping of "petal."

Source: DictionaryAI, https://dictionaryai.com/define/pet (written from Wiktionary data, CC BY-SA 4.0: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/).