cosset
Americanverb (used with object)
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cossets,
present (3rd person singular)
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cosseted,
past participle, past
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cosseting
present participle
noun
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a lamb brought up without its dam; pet lamb.
-
any pet.
verb
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Participles
Conjugated Forms
Present
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cossetsimple
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cossetssimple
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have cossetedperfect
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has cossetedperfect
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am cossetingprogressive
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are cossetingprogressive
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is cossetingprogressive
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have been cossetingperfect progressive
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has been cossetingperfect progressive
Past
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cossetedsimple
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had cossetedperfect
-
was cossetingprogressive
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were cossetingprogressive
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had been cossetingperfect progressive
Future
Etymology
Origin of cosset
First recorded in 1570–80; Middle English; derivative verb use of the noun cosset “a lamb raised as a pet”; of uncertain etymology, but possibly Middle English cot-sēte “cottage dweller, cottager,” from Old English cot- sǣta
Explanation
To cosset is to pamper or spoil. Your mom might cosset her beloved lap dog, feeding him homemade meals and singing him to sleep. If your parents used to cosset you when you were little, they may have protected you from injury and indulged your every whim. Your temptation might be to cosset small children or elderly relatives, pampering them and shielding them from difficulty. In the 17th century, cosset had the additional sense of "fondle and caress," as you might cuddle a baby or a puppy. Earlier, the word was a noun meaning "a lamb raised as a pet."
Vocabulary lists containing cosset
"The Wife of Bath's Tale," Vocabulary from the narrative poem
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Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince
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"The Wife of Bath's Tale" by Geoffrey Chaucer
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Like the best of children’s literature, then and now, “Treasure Island” looks to lure its young readers into the adult world, not to cosset them from it.
From New York Times ● Feb. 25, 2020
She wonders if there was something in Farquharson, by contrast, that brought out “the maternal in women, our tendency to cosset, to infantilise.”
From The New Yorker ● Dec. 4, 2016
Supporters of scooters say they offer something extremely valuable - freedom, countering the perceived tendency of many risk-averse parents to cosset their children indoors.
From BBC ● Jan. 21, 2015
It is clear from the excellent condition of all our homes that we cosset them.
From The Guardian ● May 25, 2012
We’ll take it home to Herself and let her cosset it up a bit!”
From The Irish Twins by Lucy Fitch Perkins
Yet The Man Who Knew Infinity also shows the place as a golden doll’s house that cossets the don he plays, Trinity College maths professor GH Hardy.
From The Guardian ● Mar. 24, 2016
A fun place is somewhere that lifts the spirits, that cossets the senses.
From Reuters ● Oct. 27, 2010
No, she calls the Plaza's elegant Edwardian Room, an oasis that cossets the wealthy with candles and linen napkins.
From Time Magazine Archive
My musical nephew there cossets himself up in his room, while I, at his age, was out making my way in the world.
From Edelweiss A Story by Berthold Auerbach
And they would probable be disgusted because she didn't wear cossets.
From Samantha at the World's Fair by Baron C. de Grimm
An otherwise urban-dwelling sophisticate, he cultivated a rustic demeanor for France’s benefit, uncharacteristically donning a coonskin hat and simple clothes to impress cosseted aristocrats and ordinary Parisians alike.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jun. 12, 2026
Is there a benefit to being ignored by the industry — you don’t end up cosseted or overly corporate — at least as far as your stand-up goes?
From Los Angeles Times ● Feb. 21, 2025
I cosseted my weary garden with clover, practiced patience, saw the vanity of overwork.
From Scientific American ● Aug. 18, 2023
Much of his life was spent in the cosseted luxury of a five-star hotel.
From BBC ● May 14, 2023
Peter Kronborg's seventh child, a boy, was being soothed and cosseted by his aunt, Mrs. Kronborg was asleep, and the doctor was going home.
From The Song of the Lark by Willa Sibert Cather
Catherine essentially becomes a character in a Sofia Coppola movie who grows increasingly trapped and anguished in proportion to her cosseting.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Feb. 11, 2026
“You’ve got to have a sense of risk and excitement,” she says, “otherwise we’re cosseting our kids in a bubble-wrapped world.”
From The Guardian ● Oct. 31, 2019
When the vastly unqualified Dell stumbles into a job as Phillip’s caregiver, he’s rewarded with an eyebrow-raising salary and a depressed patient who needs entertaining more than cosseting.
From New York Times ● Jan. 9, 2019
Experienced for the first time, this covert cosseting feels slightly melancholy, like an episode of Cold War fiction involving futile charades and a likely defenestration.
From The New Yorker ● Sep. 5, 2016
I think you're cosseting me up altogether and I don't like the white bread so well!
From Hortus Inclusus Messages from the Wood to the Garden, Sent in Happy Days to the Sister Ladies of the Thwaite, Coniston by John Ruskin
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
