Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. to flirt, to seductively persuade, esp. ‘another man/woman’.

1936		A.E. Duckett ‘Truckin ’round Brooklyn’ in N.Y. Age 30 May 7/1: Freddie Q [...] fruitin’ all around you know with a certain miss named Gandey.
1940		‘Digg Mee’ ‘Observation Post’ in N.Y. Age 24 Aug. 10/6: She learned that her spouse was fruiting [...] The greeneyed monster overcame her [ibid.] 19 Oct. 10/6: ‘Snap’ Channel and Mildred Richardson are trying to see who can take the most ‘fruitin’’.
1946		Mezzrow & Wolfe Really the Blues 65: He kept her sitting up after work until high noon, fruiting her.
1972		N.C. Heard To Reach a Dream 125: ‘Ordinarily it’s a mark of distinction to get your man back after he’s been fruiting around and throwing it in your face’.

2. to waste time.

1936		‘Hectic Harlem’ in N.Y. Amsterdam News 8 Feb, sect. 2: FRUITIN’ – Bluffing, loafing, dogging.
1944		Cab Calloway New Hepsters Dict. in Calloway (1976) 255: fruiting (v.): fickle, fooling around with no particular object.
1939		Herbert & Spencer Jitterbug Jamboree Song Book 32: fruiting: fooling around.

3. to fool or joke.

1960

I. Freeman Out of the Burning (1961) 197: No fruitin, where’d you get it?