fondling

From fond +‎ -ling.

fondling (plural fondlings)

1. (obsolete) A foolish person.
   • 1596, Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, VI.6:

     Yet were her words and lookes but false and fayned, / To some hid end to make more easie way, / Or to allure such fondlings whom she trayned / Into her trap […].

   • 1847, Emily Brontë, chapter 10, in Wuthering Heights, volume I:

     'How can you say I am harsh, you naughty fondling?' cried the mistress, amazed at the unreasonable assertion.

2. A pet or person who is fondled; someone who is much loved.

• fondler

From fondle +‎ -ing.

fondling

1. present participle of fondle

• fondlingly

fondling (plural fondlings)

1. The act of caressing; manifestation of tenderness.
   • Mickle

     Cyrus made no […] amorous fondling / To fan her pride, or melt her guardless heart.

• Webster's Seventh New Collegiate Dictionary, Springfield, Massachusetts, G.&C. Merriam Co., 1967