From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishpettingpet‧ting /ˈpetɪŋ/ noun [uncountable] 1 the activity of kissing and touching someone as part of a sexual activity → heavy petting2 the action of touching and moving your hand gently over an animal → pet2
Examples from the Corpus
petting• She hadn't enjoyed the heavy petting that her peers took for granted.• P'raps he just wants a bit of mutual petting.• Hers had been the generation of petting. 