petling

English

Etymology

pet +‎ -ling

Noun

petling (plural petlings)

  1. term of affection or endearment; darling.
    • 1845, Thomas Cooper, The Purgatory of Suicides, Book the Fourth, Stanza IX:
      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 […]
    • 1898 February, Mary J.H. Skrine, “How Clytemnestra Saved a Kingdom”, in Temple Bar:A London Magazine for Town and Country Readers, volume 113:
      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.

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