cruising

plural cruisings

1. countableuncountableSailing about without an exact destination, especially for pleasure.

   Cruising is a popular activity among the over-60s.

   1 more example

   Maintenance time takes away from the time for sightseeing, fishing, reading, or the other things that were the original objectives of cruising.

   2000, Jim Howard, Charles J. Doane, Handbook of Offshore Cruising: The Dream and Reality of Modern Ocean Cruising, Sheridan House, Inc., →ISBN, page 13

2. countableuncountableDriving around without an exact destination, as a social activity.

   Cruising was a popular pastime for teens in this area at the time.

3. countableuncountablechild developmentWalking unsteadily while holding onto objects such as furniture and walls: a stage in the development of ambulation (unassisted walking), typically occurring around age 10 months.

   Cruising is a fun stage for the baby, even though there are going to be some mild falls and crying during the course of it.

4. countableuncountabletransportDriving about a locality in search of passengers.

   1 more example

   In commenting upon a suggestion of W. W. Arnheim, representing the Broadway Association, that taxicab stands be established on all one-way streets in midtown to reduce cruising, John Ullman, secretary of the Empire State Taxicab Chamber of Commerce, said that if property owners were unselfish enough to permit such stands 90 per cent of the cruising would be eradicated.

   1925 March 10, “Committee on Traffic Receives Suggestions”, in Motor Transport, page 44

5. countableslanguncountableLGBTWalking or driving about a locality in search of a sex partner for casual sex.

   There was a fair amount of cruising going on at the gay party.

   5 more examples

   Within their [homosexuals'] own group, too, there is considerable social discrimination. In the most “respectable” class are those who do no “cruising,” i.e., picking up “friends” at random in the parks or streets.

   1927, Aaron J. Rosanoff, “Sexual Psychopaths”, in Manual of Psychiatry, 6th edition, New York: John Wiley & Sons Inc., →OCLC, page 203

   The press screamed headlines about castrating perverts, but the parks and cruising places remained as populous as ever. And with good cause.

   1940 January-June, Allen Bernstein, Millions of Queers (Our Homo America), [Unpublished MS of the United States National Library of Medicine], →OCLC, page 15

   For example, when a homosexual goes cruising, he runs the risk of being arrested, blackmailed or beaten up. Therefore, [Bergler concludes] homosexuals want to be hurt, humiliated, defeated and destroyed; they are all psychic masochists.

   1957 May, Richard Mayer, “Quote Cure Unquote... a la [Edward] Bergler”, in Mattachine Review, volume III, number 5, Los Angeles: Mattachine Society, →ISSN, page 22

   But even so, the gay boys who are out cruising aren’t being especially cautious. They’ve even made a pickup gambit out of it. “If that bulge in your pants isn’t a knife, let’s go for a walk.” That sort of thing.

   1970, Gerald Walker, Cruising, New York: Stein and Day, →ISBN, page 104

   Gay cruising in hotel bars was quiet and covert, but still charged with erotic possibilities and an awareness that there was little time to waste.

   1990, Allan Bérubé, Coming Out Under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women in World War Two, New York: The Free Press, →OCLC, page 114

6. countableslanguncountablebodybuildingReducing the dosage of PEDs instead of cycling them off.

1. gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of cruise