dandle

Etymology

Compare Scots dandill (“to dander; go about idly; move uncertainly; trifle”), English dialectal dander (“to wander about; talk incoherently; rave”), Middle Dutch dantinnen (“to trifle”) (from French dandiner (“to swing; waddle”)), German dändeln, tändeln (“to trifle, dandle”), Middle Dutch and Provincial German danten (“to do foolish things; trifle”), German Tand (“trifle, prattle”).

verb

1. (transitive) To move up and down on one's knee or in one's arms, in affectionate play, usually said of a child.
   You will nurse and be carried on her arm and dandled on her knees. 1978, Bible, New International Version, Isaiah 66:12
2. (transitive) To treat with fondness or affection, as if a child; to pet.
   The book, thus dandled into popularity by bishops and good ladies, contained many pieces of nursery eloquence. 1807 April, Francis Jeffrey, “Forbe's Life of Dr. Beattie”, in The Edinburgh Review
3. (transitive, obsolete) To play with; to wheedle.