From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpatpat1 /pæt/ ●●○ verb (patted, patting) [transitive] 1 TOUCHto lightly touch someone or something several times with your hand flat, especially to give comfort → stroke He patted the dog affectionately.► see thesaurus at touch2 → pat somebody/yourself on the back→ See Verb table
Examples from the Corpus
pat• Arnold shook hands formally with Mr and Mrs Hendry and patted David on the head.• Fenella was seated next to Inchbad, who patted her hand and said she was a pretty little thing, but seemed preoccupied.• "Don't worry, " he said, patting her hand gently.• Roz reached over and patted her hand.• He got up, patted her on the shoulder, and gave her a quick kiss.• Nancy patted her pillow, trying to make herself more comfortable.• She strokes her arm, pats her shoulder, smiles up at her.• "The baby's due in March, " Caroline said grinning and patting her stomach.• Roxanne pats his hand and tells him not to get upset.• She unwound the curtain, then wet her fingers and patted his mussed gray hair.• He removed his hand from my knee to pat his over-perfectly coiffed hair in preparation for the Meeting.• Natalia patted Mephistopheles, who wondered what had so revolutionised his life with so many outings.• He looked as if he was going to pat the astronauts on the head.• She bent down and patted the dog on the head.patpat2 noun [countable] 1 TOUCHa friendly act of touching someone with your hand flat Mrs Dodd gave the child a pat on the head.2 → pat of butter3 → a pat on the back → cowpatExamples from the Corpus
pat• The tournament-sponsoring Thunderbirds deserve a pat on the back.• Coach Brown gave him a pat on the shoulder.• Finally, there would be more than a pat and a prayer to be distributed along the halls.• So when your youngster barks and looks back at you, reassure him with a pat.• He gets three bets and takes up his butter pat and puts it on his knife, gives it a flip.• Charlie Chaplin had the movement off pat, I haven't, only the bruises! ...• Brian and I didn't talk, but occasionally gave one another a reassuring pat.• Affection may be expressed with hugs, smiles, pats on the head, friendly greetings, and being tucked into bed.gave ... pat• Hilbert leant towards Lewis when he told him about the will and gave him a pat on the knee.patpat3 adjective [usually before noun] ANSWER/REPLYa pat answer or explanation seems too quick and too simple and sounds as if it has been used before There are no pat answers to these questions.Examples from the Corpus
pat• There are no pat answers or simple solutions to this.• This song of himself is filled with exclamation points and pat truisms, however.patpat4 adverb 1 → have something off pat2 → stand patExamples from the Corpus
pat• He had it exactly down pat.• They have not stood pat while other teams attempted to capitalize on their setbacks.Origin pat2 (1300-1400) From the sound made by patting 