Definitions

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

  • transitive & intransitive verb To kiss.
  • noun A kiss.

from The Century Dictionary.

  • noun See bus.
  • noun A smack; a kiss; a salute with the lips.
  • noun A small vessel of from 50 to 70 tons burden, carrying two masts, and two sheds or cabins, one at each end, used in herring-fishing.
  • noun A Scotch form of bush.
  • To smack; kiss; salute with the lips.
  • To kiss.
  • To dress; get ready.

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

  • transitive verb To kiss; esp. to kiss with a smack, or rudely.
  • noun (Naut.) A small strong vessel with two masts and two cabins; -- used in the herring fishery.
  • noun A kiss; a rude or playful kiss; a smack.

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

  • noun archaic A kiss.
  • noun A herring buss, a type of shallow-keeled Dutch fishing boat used especially for herring fishing.
  • verb transitive To kiss (either literally or figuratively).
  • verb intransitive To kiss.

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

  • 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 the act of caressing with the lips (or an instance thereof)

Etymologies

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

[Possibly blend of obsolete bass (akin to French baiser) and obsolete cuss (akin to Middle English kissen, to kiss; see kiss), or from Scottish Gaelic bus, lips, mouth; see puss.]

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Examples

  • THELMA GUTIERREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): Armed with listing sheets and info on comparable properties, these buyers filled two boldly titled buss eager to find a deal among the hundreds of foreclosed properties in Stockton, California.

    CNN Transcript Jan 12, 2008 2008

  • I don't know how much I want to rely on Buss -- "buss" means "kiss," by the way -- because he doesn't seem sensitive enough to the problem of self-reporting.

    Archive 2007-07-01 Ann Althouse 2007

  • She received me with a hug and a hearty "buss," as she called that salutation, and was evidently glad to see me.

    The World's Greatest Books — Volume 06 — Fiction Various 1909

  • She took an 'buss'd me right frontin' of all them jewlarkers, an 'airter she' uz gone I sot down an 'had a good cry.

    Mingo And Other Sketches in Black and White Joel Chandler Harris 1878

  • Michael kissed Nelly's clear brow, and bestowed his usual "buss," as he called it, on granny's withered cheek; then shouldering his oilskin coat, he took his way towards the landing-place at the mouth of the harbour.

    Michael Penguyne Fisher Life on the Cornish Coast William Henry Giles Kingston 1847

  • We will back the machine in which we make our daily peregrination from the top of Oxford-street to the city, against any 'buss' on the road, whether it be for the gaudiness of its exterior, the perfect simplicity of its interior, or the native coolness of its cad.

    Sketches by Boz, illustrative of everyday life and every-day people Charles Dickens 1841

  • They had arrived in a "buss," which they had hired for the occasion.

    What Will He Do with It? — Volume 08 Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton 1838

  • They had arrived in a "buss," which they had hired for the occasion.

    What Will He Do with It? — Complete Edward Bulwer Lytton Lytton 1838

  • MC Fumin asks on the song's opening set of bars; "buss" meaning to fire a gunshot, bust a move, or strike out, express yourself - find space and freedom.

    The Guardian World News Dan Hancox 2011

  • He used to buss tables here when he was in high school.

    FUCKFACE Ch 2: Tell me lies, tell me sweet little lies... (Pt 1) Cupcake Kid 2011

Comments

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  • "...there were occasions when Jack was tempted to ask his way of the many fishermen, English and Dutch, who haunted those perilous banks in their shallow-draught doggers, schuyts, busses, howkers, and even bugalets, and who made his progress all the more uneasy by lying across his hawse until the last possible minute or suddenly looming out of the darkness without a single light so that he had to throw all aback." --Patrick O'Brian, The Surgeon's Mate, 285

    February 9, 2008

  • "A small vessel of from fifty to seventy tons, often used in herring fishery."

    March 2, 2010

  • spotted in twitter referring to a TikTok 'Buss it challenge'.

    January 13, 2021