In my teenage period (
1950s) making out was 'going all the way.' Sometime since, making out has come to mean
petting (
groping, touching, fondling). The word petting seems to be vanishing in the 21st Century.
Before grandfather and grandmother married, they had sexual intercourse (fucked) in their teens but that sounded so harsh, so they
called it making out.
Today, making out is just
fooling around,
groping, and touching, but not having intercourse.