Definitions

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

  • noun A bundle of evergreen leaves or branches, typically with berries, hung up at Christmas-time, under which people may kiss.

Etymologies

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Examples

  • Occasionally, however, the dolls are arranged in the kissing-bunch to represent a manger scene.

    A Righte Merrie Christmasse The Story of Christ-Tide John Ashton

  • Mistletoe is not very plentiful in Derbyshire; but, generally, a bit is obtainable, and this is carefully tied to the bottom of the kissing-bunch, which is then hung in the middle of the house-place, the centre of attraction during Christmas-tide.

    A Righte Merrie Christmasse The Story of Christ-Tide John Ashton

  • These dolls generally hang within the kissing-bunch by strings from the top, and are surrounded by apples, oranges tied to strings, and various brightly coloured ornaments.

    A Righte Merrie Christmasse The Story of Christ-Tide John Ashton

  • It was small and curious to her, with its glittering kissing-bunch, its evergreens behind the pictures, its wooden chairs and little deal table.

    Sons and Lovers 1913

  • It was small and curious to her, with its glittering kissing-bunch, its evergreens behind the pictures, its wooden chairs and little deal table.

    Sons and Lovers 1907

  • "This 'kissing-bunch' is always an elaborate affair.

    A Righte Merrie Christmasse The Story of Christ-Tide John Ashton

  • [Footnote 38: Fifth series, viii.p. 481.] "The lasses have made their own special preparations, and for two or three days before Christmas Eve have been getting ready the accustomed house decorations -- short garlands of holly and other evergreens for the tops of cupboards, pictures, and other furniture -- and making up the most important decoration of all, 'the kissing-bunch.'

    A Righte Merrie Christmasse The Story of Christ-Tide John Ashton

Comments

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  • (noun) - (1) A bush of evergreens sometimes substituted for mistletoe at Christmas.

    --Thomas Wright's Dictionary of Obsolete and Provincial English, 1857

    (2) The old "kissing bunch" is still hung in some of the old-fashioned cottage houses of Derbyshire and Cornwall - two wooden hoops, one passing through the other, decked with evergreen, in the centre of which is hung a "crown" of rosy apples and a sprig of mistletoe. This is hung from the central beam of the living-room, and underneath it is much kissing and romping. Later on, the carol-singers stand beneath it and sing God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen.

    --Peter Ditchfield's Old English Customs, 1901

    January 16, 2018