sweethearting n. the granting of special favors or privileges, especially to friends or family; in retail, the giving of unauthorized discounts or the abetting of shoplifting or other theft; the giving of a sweetheart deal. Editorial Note: A more established sense of sweethearting is ‘courting or wooing.’ Etymological Note: This is a natural outgrowth from existing uses of the attributive and adjectival sweetheart ‘privileged, exclusive, or preferential’ such as in sweetheart deal ‘a special, exclusive offer or arrangement.’ (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
Unwrap the name of a candy bar, and you just might find a story inside. For instance, one chewy treat found in many a checkout lane is named after a family’s beloved horse. And: 50 years ago in the United States, some Latino elementary...
Mahalia from San Diego, California, has a friendly disagreement with her husband over the phrase it takes all kinds. She understands the expression to mean that the world requires many different kinds of people to function. He thinks it means that...