▪ I. pettle, v. Sc. and north. dial.
(ˈpɛt(ə)l)
[dim. or freq. of pet v.1: see -le.]
1. trans. To pet, fondle, indulge.
| 1719 Ramsay Answ. to Hamilton 10 July iv, Sae roos'd by ane of well-kend mettle, Nae sma' did my ambition pettle, My canker'd critics it will nettle. 1781 J. Hutton Tour Caves (ed. 2) Gloss., Pettle, to coax, play or toy with. 1808 Jamieson, Pet, Pettle, to fondle, to indulge, to treat as a pet. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xviii, They harle us to the correction-house in Leith Wynd, and pettle us up wi' bread and water, and siclike sunkets. 1882 J. Walker Jaunt Auld Reekie, etc. 181 Auld Scotland's muse I've coaxed and pettled. 1889 Nicholson Folk-Sp. E. Yorks. 77. |
2. intr. To nestle; to cuddle (see cuddle v. 2).
| 1855 Robinson Whitby Gloss., To pettle, to cling to the mother's bosom as a young child. 1876 Mid-Yorks. Gloss. s.v., Of a lamb and a sheep together, it will be said of the former, that ‘it pettles with its head against the old one’. |
▪ II. pettle
var. pattle n., a plough-staff.