Link Centre Dictionary

buss

UK/bʌs/ US/bʊs/ uncommon archaic slang vulgar
noun (1) verb (1)

noun

1.

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

Synonyms

verb

1.

touch with the lips or press the lips (against someone''s mouth or other body part) as an expression of love, greeting, etc.

  • “The newly married couple kissed”
  • “She kissed her grandfather on the forehead when she entered the room”
Synonyms

Origin

Uncertain. First attested in the 1560s. Possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰus- (“lip, to kiss”) via Proto-Germanic *busaną (compare German bussen), but in any case imitative of kissing. Compare Welsh bus (“kiss, lip”) and Irish bus (“lips, mouth”) (both may have influenced English), Persian بوس (bus, “kiss”), Latvian buča (“kiss”), Latin basium (“kiss”). Mainstream proposals like in The Free Dictionary have suggested it is a blend of old English dialect words bass (related to French baiser) and cuss (akin to kissen); perhaps compare puss.

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WordNet 2.1 (Princeton University). Wiktionary (CC BY-SA). CMU Pronouncing Dictionary. WordNet 2.1 Copyright Princeton University. All rights reserved. Wiktionary content is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence.