kiss

Definition

To touch with the lips or press the lips against, usually to show love or affection or passion, or as part of a greeting.

Etymology

From Middle English kissen, kussen, from Old English cyssan (“to kiss”), from Proto-West Germanic *kussijan, from Proto-Germanic *kussijaną (“to kiss”). Cognates include Saterland Frisian küsje, Dutch kussen, German Low German küssen, German küssen, Danish kysse, Swedish kyssa, Norwegian kysse, Icelandic kyssa. Compare Proto-Indo-European *ku-, *kus- (probably imitative), with byspels including Ancient Greek κύσσω (kússō), poetic form of κύσω (kúsō, “to kiss”), and Hittite [script needed] (kuwassanzi, “they kiss”).

Example Sentences

• "He […] kissed her lips with such a clamorous smack, / That at the parting all the church echoed."
• "I'll kiss thy foot. I'll swear myself thy subject."
• "But then I had the [massive] flintlock by me for protection. […] The linen-press and a chest on the top of it formed, however, a very good gun-carriage; and, thus mounted, aim could be taken out of the window[…], and a 'bead' could be drawn upon Molly, the dairymaid, kissing the fogger behind the hedge, little dreaming that the deadly tube was levelled at them."