kiss

• enPR: kĭs, IPA^(key): /kɪs/, [kʰɪs]

• Audio (US)

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• Rhymes: -ɪs

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

kiss (third-person singular simple present kisses, present participle kissing, simple past and past participle kissed)

1. (transitive) To touch with the lips or press the lips against, usually to show love or affection or passion, or as part of a greeting.
   • (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare

     He […] kissed her lips with such a clamorous smack, / That at the parting all the church echoed.

   • 1610-11, William Shakespeare, The Tempest, Act II Scene 2

     I'll kiss thy foot. I'll swear myself thy subject.

   • 1879, R[ichard] J[efferies], chapter 1, in The Amateur Poacher, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], OCLC 752825175:

     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.

2. (transitive, intransitive) To (cause to) touch lightly or slightly; to come into contact.

   The nearside of the car just kissed a parked truck as he took the corner at high speed. 

   His ball kissed the black into the corner pocket.

   • (Can we date this quote?) William Shakespeare

     Like fire and powder, / Which as they kiss consume.

   • (Can we date this quote?) Alfred Tennyson

     Rose, rose and clematis, / Trail and twine and clasp and kiss.

3. (intransitive) Of two or more people, to touch each other's lips together, usually to express love or affection or passion.
4. (transitive, archaic) To treat with fondness.

• to kiss each other (3)
• to kiss one another (3)
• See also Thesaurus:kiss

• bekiss
• kissing
• kissle
• kissy

From Middle English kis, kys, derived from the verb kissen; compare Middle English cos, cus, from Old English coss, from Proto-Germanic *kussaz.

kiss (plural kisses)

1. A touch with the lips, usually to express love or affection, or as a greeting.
2. An 'X' mark placed at the end of a letter or other type of message.
3. A type of filled chocolate candy, shaped as if someone had kissed the top. See Hershey's Kisses.

• (touch with the lips): See Thesaurus:buss

• x
• xo
• xoxo
• xoxoxo
• xxx

• KSIs, Sisk, skis

• IPA^(key): /kɪs/

kiss

1. pee, wee, tinkle, urine