fondle

Mr. Wainwright’s version does fondle the trademark pipe, which suggests the original Maigret as well as a painting by Magritte.

From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 2, 2025

Like for nervous people, “fidget toys” — sensory objects to fondle — help ground you, Darragh says, gripping a clementine.

From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 16, 2023

As she paused to fondle a makeup brush, I heard the grip of her finger pads reluctant to give up the cellophane wrapper.

From New York Times ● Apr. 4, 2019

If the joy of studying a masterpiece is, as Nabokov put it, “to fondle the details,” lingering inside the facsimile is unquestionably superior to being herded through the original tomb by a guide.

From The New Yorker ● Nov. 20, 2016

Mammals characteristically nuzzle, fondle, hug, caress, pet, groom and love their young, behavior essentially unknown among the reptiles.

From "Cosmos" by Carl Sagan

In perhaps a glancing nod to Chekhov, Sidney fondles a metal-headed club called a mace in his collection and lightly asks what the use is of owning a mace “if you never use it?”

From New York Times ● Aug. 15, 2014

To distinguish his jaunty Banquo from Macbeth, Mr. Cumming fondles a red apple.

From New York Times ● Jul. 8, 2012

Maybe it's because of the remorseful way he fondles the dog's lifeless paws, or the pathetic manner in which Joseph hides out in a Christian charity shop.

From Seattle Times ● Dec. 8, 2011

Baby fondles the nitroglycerin, the boys take time out to warm his milk, and everything comes off happily.

From Time Magazine Archive

After a few moments Kolory brings forth his doll again, and, while arraying it very carefully in the tappa and red cloth, alternately fondles and chides it.

From Typee by Herman Melville

“It must be stressful to be touched and fondled by a bunch of strangers,” said Sachiko Azuma, head of Tokyo-based PEACE, which stands for Put an End to Animal Cruelty and Exploitation.

From Seattle Times ● Jan. 29, 2024

“It’s touchless, it’s considered safe and it’s prepackaged so products haven’t been fondled and breathed on,” she said.

From Washington Post ● Mar. 12, 2021

“The label is essential,” Mr. Haslam said with a rasping cackle as he fondled a silver cigarette case he had gotten for Christmas.

From New York Times ● Jan. 7, 2020

Both essayists described loneliness and anger, ecstasies of self-recrimination; neither spared much thought for the people they were said to have punched or fondled.

From The New Yorker ● Oct. 10, 2018

He fondled the broad white-striped face, pulled gently at the ears—little furry ears, lost in mane like a pony’s.

From "Johnny Tremain" by Esther Hoskins Forbes

Ivory doesn't have much success in filling in the elisions, but Guadagnino's direction compounds the superficiality with camerawork that can't resist fondling every surface it encounters.

From Los Angeles Times ● Mar. 1, 2018

This has been going on forever – certainly since Ovid wrote of Pygmalion kissing and fondling his statue until the gods took pity.

From The Guardian ● Jul. 29, 2017

Instead of accessing the quarter-life crisis through the exploits of a solitary protagonist bumbling and fondling his way up against the limitations society had set for him, this film focused on relationships.

From Slate ● Jul. 29, 2014

They keep devotional attention focused, but also provide stimulation as the eye moves from different figures and gestures: hands pointing, gripping, exclaiming, fondling.

From New York Times ● Aug. 10, 2012

I have an irrational and totally unlike-me urge to thank that security guard—Irene—but she’s a few feet away and busy fondling someone else’s stuff.

From "The Sun Is Also a Star" by Nicola Yoon