petter

plural petters

1. rareOne who pets.

   I was always a petter of my horses, teaching them to do some minor tricks.

   2007, George Philip, Cowboy life: the letters of George Philip

   1 more example

   […] 36) are good sports 37) have a good sense of humor 38) are not sissies 39) do not try to neck on the first date 40) are not routine petters […]

   1953, Ernest Watson Burgess, Paul Wallin, Engagement and marriage

present singular third person petters · participle present pettering · participle past pettered · past pettered

1. rareTo make an irregular, repetitive sound.

   "What an infernal shower!" ejaculated the baronet, as the rain pettered against his plate glass.

   1840, Horace Smith, editor, Memoirs, Letters, and Comic Miscellanies in Prose and Verse of the late James Smith, Esq., volume II, London: Henry Colburn, page 231

   1 more example

   Yet semblable Her mild voice Is, to that blissful sound, in Summer drought ; Of pettering rain, on léaves of parched Earths dust.

   1916, Charles M. Doughty, The Titans, London: Duckworth & Co., page 106

plural Petters

1. A surname from Dutch or German.