caressing name

English

Noun

caressing name (plural caressing names)

1. (archaic) A name or nickname used to express affection, especially to a child, parent, or other loved one.

   Synonyms: pet name, term of endearment

   • 1834 February, Christian Isobel Johnstone, “The Sabbath Night’s Supper”, in Tait’s Edinburgh Magazine‎^[1], page 9:

     Robin’s Young Chevalier diligently filled the glass of Charles’s Greysteel,—such were their old caressing names for each other […]

   • 1853, Elizabeth Gaskell, chapter 3, in Ruth‎^[2], volume 3, London: Chapman and Hall, page 78:

     “Mother,” said he, after a pause, coming nearer […] “mammy darling,” said he, using the caressing name, which he had been trying to drop as not sufficiently manly

   • 1866, Mary Elizabeth Braddon, Birds of Prey, Book 3, Chapter 4, in Belgravia, February, 1867, p. 395,^[3]

     Miss Halliday consented to call her mother’s husband “Papa,” though the caressing name seemed in a manner to stick in her throat.

   • 1923, Ernest Jones, “The Theory of Symbolism” in Papers on Psycho-Analysis, New York: William Wood, p. 142,^[4]

     […] the four ideas that keep recurring in connection with the name ‘punchinello’ are (1) a caressing name for male offspring, equivalent to ‘little man’ […]

   • 1949, Dorothy Bussy, chapter 5, in Olivia‎^[5], London: Hogarth Press, published 1950, page 40:

     She would call me by caressing names, she would talk to me about my dear Mamma and my little brothers and sisters […]