caressive

Etymology

Definitions

1. 1

   Having the nature of a caress

   Having the nature of a caress; gentle, soothing.

   • But the faithful creature [a dog] had soon returned, and comprehending that his mistress was confined in this great stone building, he whined and howled, waiting, within ten feet of the sentinel, a caressive reply.
   • Too true that her soft eyes were constantly suffused with tears, and that, when speaking to me, her voice was inexpressibly tender and caressive—her smile so sad, so pitiful, that it would have touched the heart of a tiger!
   • 'It's a lovely day, today!' Mrs Bolton would say in her caressive, persuasive voice.
2. 2

   Of a diminutive

   Of a diminutive: indicating affection or endearment.

   • All diminutives eaſily acquire a careſſive character, as animula, ocellus, &c. the Greeks even called their diminutives ὐποκρισικα; and the ſofter form, lin, rather than kin, would moſt naturally be ſo appropriated.
   • Russian diminutives are of two kinds: caressive and contemptuous; ex. домъ, a house, до́микъ, a pretty little house, домѝшко, a miserable hut.
3. 3

   A type of diminutive indicating affection or endearment.

   • One another suffix used as a caressive and appellative is -(l)y. Like -kAy, it is attached to kinship terms, generally to the ones expressing closer relationships.

The neighborhood

• neighborcaress
• neighborcaresser
• neighborcaressingly