Meanings
nounheavy petting (uncountable)
- uncountableSexual groping; erotic horseplay; foreplay.
Of Ms. Wolf, Ms. Henneberger wrote, “Her last book, ‘Promiscuities,’ is about girls sexually coming of age and prescribes heavy petting as an alternative to early intercourse.” What a pleasure it was to see heavy petting back in use.
1999 November 21, William Safire, quoting Melinda Henneberger, “On Language; Trope-a-dope”, in The New York Times, →ISSN
Cite this entry
APA
heavy petting. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/heavy%20petting
MLA
“heavy petting.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/heavy%20petting. Accessed November 4, 2026.
Chicago
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “heavy petting,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/heavy%20petting.
Source: heavy petting on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.