fondling

From fond +‎ -ling.

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɒndlɪŋ/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

fondling (plural fondlings)

1. (obsolete) A foolish person.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, “Book VI, Canto VI”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC:

     Yet were her words and lookes but false and fayned, / To some hid end to make more easie way, / Or to allure such fondlings whom she trayned / Into her trap […].

   • 1847, Emily Brontë, chapter 10, in Wuthering Heights, volume I:

     'How can you say I am harsh, you naughty fondling?' cried the mistress, amazed at the unreasonable assertion.

2. A pet or person who is fondled; someone who is much loved.

• fondler

From fondle +‎ -ing.

• IPA^(key): /ˈfɒnd(ə)lɪŋ/, [ˈfɒn.dɫ̩.ɪŋ]

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

fondling

1. present participle and gerund of fondle

• fondlingly

fondling (plural fondlings)

1. The act of caressing; manifestation of tenderness.
   • 1835, Emma Whitehead, Pierce Falcon, the Outcast:

     amorous fondling

• “fondling” in Webster’s Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary: Based on Webster’s Third New International Dictionary, 7th edition, Springfield, Mass.: G[eorge] & C[harles] Merriam, 1963 (1967 printing), →OCLC.