cruising

Noun

cruising (countable and uncountable, plural cruisings)

1. Sailing about without an exact destination, especially for pleasure.
   • Cruising is a popular activity among the over-60s.
   • Maintenance time takes away from the time for sightseeing, fishing, reading, or the other things that were the original objectives of cruising.2000, Jim Howard, Charles J. Doane, Handbook of Offshore Cruising: The Dream and Reality of Modern Ocean Cruising, Sheridan House, Inc., →ISBN, page 13
2. Driving around without an exact destination, as a social activity.
   • Cruising was a popular pastime for teens in this area at the time.
3. (child development) Walking unsteadily while holding onto objects such as furniture and walls: a stage in the development of ambulation (unassisted walking), typically occurring around age 10 months.
   • Cruising is a fun stage for the baby, even though there are going to be some mild falls and crying during the course of it.
4. Driving about a locality in search of passengers.
   • In commenting upon a suggestion of W. W. Arnheim, representing the Broadway Association, that taxicab stands be established on all one-way streets in midtown to reduce cruising, John Ullman, secretary of the Empire State Taxicab Chamber of Commerce, said that if property owners were unselfish...1925 March 10, “Committee on Traffic Receives Suggestions”, in Motor Transport, page 44
5. (slang) Walking or driving about a locality in search of a sex partner for casual sex.
   • There was a fair amount of cruising going on at the gay party.
   • Within their [homosexuals'] own group, too, there is considerable social discrimination. In the most “respectable” class are those who do no “cruising,” i.e., picking up “friends” at random in the parks or streets.1927, Aaron J. Rosanoff, “Sexual Psychopaths”, in Manual of Psychiatry, 6th edition, New York: John Wiley & Sons Inc., →OCLC, page 203
6. (slang) Reducing the dosage of PEDs instead of cycling them off.