Definitions

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.

  • intransitive verb To touch or caress with the lips as an expression of affection, greeting, respect, or amorousness.
  • intransitive verb To touch lightly or gently.
  • intransitive verb To strike lightly; brush against.
  • intransitive verb To engage in mutual touching or caressing with the lips.
  • intransitive verb To come into light contact.
  • noun A caress or touch with the lips.
  • noun A slight or gentle touch.
  • noun A small piece of candy, especially of chocolate.
  • noun A drop cookie made of egg whites and sugar.
  • idiom (kiss ass) To act submissively or obsequiously in order to gain favor.
  • idiom Informal (kiss goodbye) To be forced to regard as lost, ruined, or hopeless.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun A very slight, glancing touch.
  • noun A small drop of sealing-wax accidentally let fall upon a letter near the seal.
  • noun A salute or caress given by smacking with the lips. See kiss, v. t., 1.
  • noun A confection, usually made of whites of eggs and powdered sugar, mixed, and baked in an oven, A sugar-plum or candied confection made of pulled sugar and variously colored and flavored.
  • noun plural Same as kiss-me.
  • To smack with the pursed lips (a compression of the closed cavity of the mouth by the cheeks giving a slight sound when the rounded contact of the lips with one another is broken); press one's lips to, or touch with the lips, as a mark of affection or reverence, or as a conventional salutation; salute or caress with the lips: as, to kiss the Bible in taking an oath; to kiss a lady's hand; to kiss one on the cheek; they kissed each other.
  • To touch gently, as if with fondness; impinge upon softly.
  • Hence To touch slightly, as one ball another, in billiards and other games.
  • To salute with the lips mutually, especially as a token of affection, friendship, or respect: as, to kiss and part.
  • To meet with a gentle touch or impact; meet; just come iu contact.

from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.

  • transitive verb To salute with the lips, as a mark of affection, reverence, submission, forgiveness, etc.
  • transitive verb To touch gently, as if fondly or caressingly.
  • noun A salutation with the lips, as a token of affection, respect, etc.
  • noun A small piece of confectionery.
  • intransitive verb To make or give salutation with the lips in token of love, respect, etc..
  • intransitive verb To meet; to come in contact; to touch fondly.
  • intransitive verb [Obs or Prov. End.] a perfumed sugarplum to sweeten the breath.

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

  • verb transitive To touch with the lips or press the lips against, usually to express love or affection or passion, or as part of a greeting, or as part of sexual activity.
  • verb transitive To touch lightly or slightly.
  • verb intransitive Of two or more people, to touch each other's lips together, usually to express love or affection or passion.
  • verb transitive To mark a cross (X) after one's name on a card, etc.
  • noun A touch with the lips, usually to express love or affection, or as a greeting.
  • noun A type of filled chocolate candy, shaped as if someone had kissed the top. See Hershey's Kisses.

from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.

  • noun any of several bite-sized candies
  • noun a cookie made of egg whites and sugar
  • verb touch with the lips or press the lips (against someone's mouth or other body part) as an expression of love, greeting, etc.
  • noun a light glancing touch
  • verb touch lightly or gently
  • noun the act of caressing with the lips (or an instance thereof)

Etymologies

from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition

[Middle English kissen, from Old English cyssan.]

from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License

From Old English cyssan, from Proto-Germanic *kussijanan, 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 (kusso), poetic form of κύσω (kuso, "to kiss"), and Hittite kuwassanzi ("they kiss").

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Examples

  • Hi helen, *air kiss, air kiss*, you're such a sweetie!

    At My Table 2006

  • Shout out to Pessoa, Richard Bey and FingaFengh for the stimulating feedbacks. * kiss kiss*

    natinski Diary Entry natinski 2002

  • He only knew he wanted to kiss her -- _kiss_ her ....

    One Day A sequel to 'Three Weeks' Anonymous

  • In that silence, of which the boom of the tide was an orderly part, I caught the clear "_kiss -- kiss -- kiss_" of the halliards on the roof, as they were blown against the installation - pole.

    Traffics and Discoveries Rudyard Kipling 1900

  • 'Well,' he exclaimed, 'you surely don't tell me that you kiss her -- _kiss_ Holly!

    Hollyhock A Spirit of Mischief L. T. Meade 1884

  • Then later in that dark street, you stepped left as I stepped right, we stood for a moment and looked at each other, then we kissed - a first kiss - like electricity grounding out from your lips to my lips all the way through me, to my toes, a rush of warm chaos - everything stopped as it does for lovers - everything stopped and the world revolved around you and I and that wonderful kiss… the drunken clatter of fellow athletes hooting, hollering in at least 6 languages…

    admit-it Diary Entry admit-it 2008

  • * The word kiss comes from the Old English cyssan from the proto-Germanic kussijanan or kuss, which is probably based on the sound kissing can make.

    The Independent - Frontpage RSS Feed 2012

  • A few rounds of this and most dogs will respond to the word kiss and a finger tap by coming over to lick the spot you touch.

    Born to Bark Stanley Coren 2010

  • The word kiss discovered in a long list of English vocabulary made their faces redden and their hands fly up and cover their mouths.

    Heaven Lake John Dalton 2004

  • The word kiss discovered in a long list of English vocabulary made their faces redden and their hands fly up and cover their mouths.

    Heaven Lake John Dalton 2004

  • “What printers were after”, says Bob Richardson, a former BBC graphic designer who works at the Type Archive, “was a ‘kiss impression’, where the type touches the paper lightly enough just to ink it.

    How the world’s old printing presses are being brought back to life The Economist 2019

Comments

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  • The word starts hard and ends soft in contrast to the act, which, if sweet, starts soft and ends hard.

    October 25, 2007

  • Actually might stand for the words: Keep It Simple, Stupid; when somebody desperately wants you to simplify things.

    March 4, 2008

  • Means "urine" in Swedish.

    July 13, 2009

  • Any man who can drive safely while kissing a pretty girl is simply not giving the kiss the attention it deserves.

    -Albert Einstein

    July 28, 2009

  • You deserve a kiss today.

    November 6, 2009

  • "10. A small drop of sealing-wax accidentally let fall upon a letter near the seal."

    --Century Dictionary

    December 23, 2010