Canoodling

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Engaging in flirtatious or romantic behavior marked by affection and playful interactions with a partner
2. Involving intimate gestures of love or affection that typically occur between close companions in a lighthearted manner
3. Showing tender and flirtatious actions toward a romantic interest with lighthearted affection

Etymology: The verb "canoodle" has an origin nobody has pinned down, and the leading candidates pull in quite different directions. One theory blends "caress" with "noodle," the old slang verb for fooling around or wasting time, which would make the word a playful mashup of cuddling and dawdling. Another points to German "knuddeln," meaning to cuddle or embrace tightly, and to Low German "knuddle," a clump or knot, which suggests the image of bodies bunched together. The German lead is the more persuasive of the two, though it stops short of a proof. Scandinavian cousins such as Swedish "knulla" and Norwegian "knulle" carry the sense of sexual intercourse, a semantic shift that shows how close physical intimacy and roughhousing can sit in related words. Whatever the route, the English word is informal and playful in tone, which fits its uncertain, slangy beginnings.

Synonyms: cuddling, snuggling, smooching

Antonyms: pushing away, rejecting