fondle, v.
(ˈfɒnd(ə)l)
[frequentative of fond v. Cf. dandle, faddle.]
† 1. trans. To treat with fond indulgence; to cocker, pamper. Also, to bring to (a state or condition) by indulgence. Also with up. Obs.
| 1694 Dryden Love Triumphant ii. i, Ximena, you have fondled him to this. 1721 Amhurst Terræ-Filius No. 8 ¶ 11 Where one would stand it out..twenty chose rather to be fondled up, and call'd mother's nown boys at any expence. 1732 Bolingbroke in Swift's Lett. (1766) II. 157 You shall be nursed, fondled, and humoured. 1757 Johnson Rambler No. 175 ¶5 Every day sends out, in quest of pleasure..some heir fondled in ignorance. 1789 F. Burney Lett. Apr., I knew you would..fondle them [poultry] like your children. |
2. To handle or treat with fondness; to caress. Also, to press fondly
to (the heart).
| 1796 H. Hunter tr. St.-Pierre's Stud. Nat. (1799) II. 52 The sheep, which he fondled when a lamb. 1832 W. Irving Alhambra II. 36 The prince fondled it to his heart. ‘Happy bird’, said he. 1859 Kingsley Misc. (1860) I. 282 To fondle the reptile is to be bitten by it. 1874 Green Short Hist. vii. §3. (1876) 363 Elizabeth..fondled her ‘sweet Robin’, Lord Leicester, in the face of the court. |
| fig. 1818 Keats Endym. i. 311 Zephyr..Fondles the flower amid the sobbing rain. |
3. intr. To behave, play or speak fondly; to toy; also
† to bestow caresses
on.
| 1720 Gay Work for a Cooper 78 He..fondled on her like his child. 1727 Pope, &c., Art of Sinking 102 He fondles like a mere stammerer. 1773 Goldsm. Stoops to Conq. iv. (Globe) 667/2 Fondling together, as I'm alive. 1840 Dickens Old C. Shop i, ‘Foolish Nell’, said the old man fondling with her hair. 1880 G. Meredith Trag. Com. 74 Unable to take such services without rewarding him, she fondled. |
| fig. 1836 Landor Pericles & Aspasia liii, Sighs full often fondle with reproofs. 1874 Lowell Agassiz ii. lvii, Persuasion fondled in his look and tone. |
Hence
fondled ppl. a. Also
ˈfondle n., an act of fondling.
ˈfondler, one who fondles.
| 1755 Johnson, Fondler. 1788 C. Reeve Exiles III. 169 Those fondled and spoiled children, who are disagreeable to all others. 1833 Lamb Elia (1860) 419 It was a stranger to the patient fondle, the hushing caress. 1876 C. M. Yonge Womankind xviii. 135 Whether the elder brother starts as..the champion and fondler. |