heavy petting

heavy petting (uncountable)

1. (dated) Sexual groping; erotic horseplay; foreplay.
   • 1999 November 21, William Safire, quoting Melinda Henneberger, “On Language; Trope-a-dope”, in The New York Times‎, →ISSN:

     Of Ms. Wolf, Ms. Henneberger wrote, “Her last book, ‘Promiscuities,’ is about girls sexually coming of age and prescribes heavy petting as an alternative to early intercourse.” What a pleasure it was to see heavy petting back in use.

• “heavy petting”, in Cambridge English Dictionary, Cambridge, Cambridgeshire: Cambridge University Press, 1999–present.
• “heavy petting”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.
• “heavy petting” in Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English, Longman.