Webster
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Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary · 1913

Pet

Pet (pĕt), n. [Formerly peat, perhaps from Ir. peat, akin to Gael. peata.] 1. A cade lamb; a lamb brought up by hand.

2. Any person or animal especially cherished and indulged; a fondling; a darling; often, a favorite child.

The love of cronies, pets, and favorites. Tatler.

3. [Prob. fr. Pet a fondling, hence, the behavior or humor of a spoiled child.] A slight fit of peevishness or fretfulness. "In a pet she started up." Tennyson.

Pet, a. Petted; indulged; admired; cherished; as, a pet child; a pet lamb; a pet theory.

Some young lady's pet curate. F. Harrison.

Pet cock. [Perh. for petty cock.] (Mach.) A little faucet in a water pipe or pump, to let air out, or at the end of a steam cylinder, to drain it.

Pet, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Petted; p. pr. & vb. n. Petting.] To treat as a pet; to fondle; to indulge; as, she was petted and spoiled.

Pet, v. i. To be a pet. Feltham.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary, Noah Porter, editor (Springfield, Mass.: G. & C. Merriam, 1913). Public domain. Text as transcribed by MICRA, Inc., from Project Gutenberg. Changed for Deep Dive Bible: Greek, which our source spelled in Latin letters, set in Greek letters; entries of one spelling merged into one article; Greek words our source left out (shown as “?”), read from the 1898 printing, from the same plates (the Library of Congress’s copy), where the place could be found with certainty. Of the others, 1,362 (a word or a single letter each) were inferred by AI from the context by the dictionary’s own rules and are marked with a wavy underline (tap or point at one to see the note); the rest, which could not be inferred with confidence, are left as “?”.