- caress
- caress vb Caress, fondle, pet, cosset, cuddle, dandle mean to show affection or love by touching or handling.Caress implies an expression of tender interest (as by soft stroking or patting) or of affection ordinarily without undue familiarity{
soothing with a touch the wild thing's fright . . . caressed it into peace with light, kind palms— Edwin Arnold
}{the little Isaac . . . leans . . . against his father's knee . . . while Abraham's left hand quiets him and caresses the boy's face— Henry Adams
}Fondle implies doting fondness and frequently lack of dignity ; it usually suggests attentions (as hugging or kissing) more obvious and less gentle than caressing{fondle a baby
}{all that he was good for, she said, was to fondle and fumble and kiss— Graves
}{dwarf trees that had to be fondled and humored— Brooks
}Pet, sometimes, and cosset imply special attentions and indulgences including more or less fondling{the petted child of the family
}{died ... in the newest and largest of hospitals petted by all her nurses— Jarrell
}{soothed and cosseted by his aunt— Cather
}In recent use pet more often stresses flirtatious or amorous fondling and sometimes suggests undue familiarity{a petting party
}Cuddle chiefly suggests the action of a mother or nurse in drawing a child close to her breast to keep it warm, happy, and quiet{little boys . . . who have kind mammas to cuddle them— Kingsley
}The term may be extended to other attentions which imply a desire to protect and keep warm and contented{Temple seems . . . to have been coaxed, and warmed, and cuddled by the people round about him— Thackeray
}{we might cuddle up to the world in a comfortable attitude— Langer
}Dandle suggests playful handling of a child (as by moving him up and down lightly on one's knee){the mother cuddles, but the father dandles, their little boy
}In its extended use dandle usually implies toying with especially in a playful but pampering manner{editors, scholars, merchants, even the noble lords and ladies feted and dandled him— Eastman
}
New Dictionary of Synonyms. 2014.
