Link Centre Dictionary

kiss

UK/kɪs/ US/kʰɪs/ very common
verb (2) noun (4)

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
2.

touch lightly or gently

  • “the blossoms were kissed by the soft rain”

noun

1.

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

Synonyms
2.

a cookie made of egg whites and sugar

3.

any of several bite-sized candies

4.

a light glancing touch

  • “there was a brief kiss of their hands in passing”

Origin

From Middle English kissen, kussen, from Old English cyssan (“to kiss”), from Proto-West Germanic *kussijan, from Proto-Germanic *kussijaną (“to kiss”). Cognates include Saterland Frisian küsje, Dutch kussen, German Low German küssen, German küssen, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål kysse, Faroese, Icelandic, Norwegian Nynorsk, and Swedish kyssa. Compare Proto-Indo-European *ku-, *kus- (probably imitative), with byspels including Ancient Greek κύσσω (kússō), poetic form of κύσω (kúsō, “to kiss”), and Hittite [script needed] (kuwassanzi, “they kiss”).

Phrases

  • air kiss Terms derived from the noun or verb kiss
  • angel's kiss Terms derived from the noun or verb kiss
  • ass kissing Terms derived from the noun or verb kiss
  • Aussie kiss Terms derived from the noun or verb kiss
  • betray with a kiss Terms derived from the noun or verb kiss
  • blow a kiss Terms derived from the noun or verb kiss
  • butterfly kiss Terms derived from the noun or verb kiss
  • catch and kiss
  • chef's kiss Terms derived from the noun or verb kiss
  • devil is kissing his wife
  • do you kiss your mother with that mouth
  • easy as kiss my hand

Related words

Word family

Broader terms

Narrower terms

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.