[a. F. caresse-r to caress, fondle, ad. It. carezzare, f. carezza; see prec.]
1. trans. To treat affectionately or blandishingly, to touch, stroke or pat endearingly; to fondle.
1697. Dampier, Voy. (1729), I. 359. (heading) The natives caress them.
1716–8. Lady M. W. Montague, Lett., I. xiii. 46. She caressed me as if I had been her daughter.
1851. Longf., Gold. Leg., VI. Cott. Odenwald. My very hands seem to caress her.
1870. E. Peacock, Ralf Skirl., III. 141. Isabell was caressing the fawn.
b. transf. and fig.
1746–7. Hervey, Medit. (1758), I. 163. Fondly caressing this little Flower!
1853. C. Brontë, Villette, xiv. (1855), 128. Acacia-boughs caressed its panes.
1870. Lowell, Among my Bks., Ser. II. (1873), 195. Its prolonged echoes caress the ear.
2. fig. To treat with kindness or favor, pet, make much of. arch.
1658. Milton, Lett. State, Wks. 1738, II. 230. For the Sweetness of his Disposition caress’d by all Men.
1682. Addr. fr. Chester, in Lond. Gaz., No. 1764/4. [We] do further resolve and promise not to Caress or Encourage any person who shall obstinately persist in courses disliked by Your Majesty.
1728. Morgan, Algiers, II. iv. 287. Sultan Suliman … highly caressed a Person, concerning whom … he had heard so much.
1740. Johnson, Blake, Wks. IV. 359. Without being much countenanced or caressed by his superiors.
1771. R. Henry, Hist. Gt. Brit., II. 5. The poets of the north were … greatly caressed by our Anglo-Saxon kings.
1804. A. Duncan, Mariner’s Chron., II. 227. The men … caressing the carpenter, who was, indeed, an excellent workman, and deserved all the encouragement they could give him.
1876. Freeman, Norm. Conq., IV. xviii. 128. William was thus busy in half caressing, half coercing, his English subjects.
† b. fig. To ‘treat.’ Obs.
1670. Hobbes, Behemoth (1840), 409. Lambert … caressed his soldiers with an entertainment at his own house.
1699. T. C[ockman], Tully’s Offices (1706), 199. Sums … daily thrown away to Caress the People.
3. absol.
1683. D. A., Art of Converse, 96. Come not then to treat with your Friend as a Serpent caressing with the Tail, and killing with a double Tongue.
1752. Johnson, Rambl., No. 200, ¶ 15. Some … offend when they design to caress.
1875. B. Taylor, Faust, I. v. 214. She slept while we were caressing.
