pet [M16th] The word pet was first used for ‘a hand-reared lamb’ in Scotland and northern England, where it also meant ‘a spoilt or favourite child’. It came from Scottish Gaelic peata ‘tame animal’. By the early 18th century it had spread south to apply to any domestic or tamed animal kept for pleasure or companionship. The verb, meaning ‘to stroke or pat affectionately’, is found in the early 17th century, although the sense ‘to engage in sexually stimulating caressing’, as in heavy petting [M20th], is no older than the 1920s and first found in the USA. Similarly, cosset [M16th] was used of a hand-reared lamb and a spoilt child before developing the sense ‘pamper’.