cruising

Etymology

noun

1. Sailing about without an exact destination, usually 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., page 13
2. Driving around without an exact destination as a social activity
3. (slang) Walking or driving about a locality in search of a casual sex partner, especially among gay males.
   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
   The press screamed headlines about castrating perverts, but the parks and cruising places remained as populous as ever. And with good cause. 1940 January-June, Allen Bernstein, Millions of Queers (Our Homo America), [Unpublished MS of the United States National Library of Medicine], →OCLC, page 15
   For example, when a homosexual goes cruising, he runs the risk of being arrested, blackmailed or beaten up. Therefore, [Bergler concludes] homosexuals want to be hurt, humiliated, defeated and destroyed; they are all psychic masochists. 1957 May, Richard Mayer, “Quote Cure Unquote... a la [Edward] Bergler”, in Mattachine Review, volume III, number 5, Los Angeles: Mattachine Society, →ISSN, page 22
   But even so, the gay boys who are out cruising aren’t being especially cautious. They’ve even made a pickup gambit out of it. “If that bulge in your pants isn’t a knife, let’s go for a walk.” That sort of thing. 1970, Gerald Walker, Cruising, New York: Stein and Day, page 104
   Gay cruising in hotel bars was quiet and covert, but still charged with erotic possibilities and an awareness that there was little time to waste. 1990, Allan Bérubé, Coming Out Under Fire: The History of Gay Men and Women in World War Two, New York: The Free Press, →OCLC, page 114
4. (bodybuilding, slang) Reducing the dosage of PEDs instead of cycling them off.
   Coordinate term: blasting

verb

1. present participle and gerund of cruise