kiss and telln.adj.
/ˌkɪs (ə)n(d) ˈtɛl/, U.S. /ˈˌkɪs ən ˈtɛl/ A. n.1988 Sunday Times 16 Oct. g3/1 Upwardly Mobile, an Autobiography contains no kiss and tell.1990 R. Blount First Hubby 19 Now they want me to write..a lighthearted, affectionate account of life in the White House under..the first woman president... There are doubtless some readers who would like a kiss-and-tell.1992 Independent 1 Feb. (Mag.) 30/1 Turning from erotic fiction to carnal fact, Thomas also produced a 1988 autobiography, Memories and Hallucinations, an unusual combination of literary monograph and tabloid kiss-and-tell.1995 Times 28 Jan. 20/3 Justifying his kiss-and-tell on the grounds that the dramatist was a treacherous hypocrite.
The act or an instance of recounting publicly one's sexual exploits; now frequently by the (former) lover of a famous or notorious person. Frequently in extended use, esp. in Politics (originally U.S.): the revealing of confidential information gained through a close or privileged relationship. Also: the journalistic form or style in which such revelations are typically made.In quot. 1726 part of an extended conceit.
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1726 G. Odingsells Capricious Lovers i. v. 13 Mrs M: I nauseate your Smacks—your rude, noisy Smacks. Gra.: I confess, Coz, there you have reason,—for 'tis like kiss and tell.
B. adj. (attributive).
Of, relating to, or involving a kiss-and-tell; that makes or is liable to make such a revelation.In modern use, earlier than the noun.
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1963 R. H. Rovere in New Yorker 16 Mar. 195/1 Hughes' ‘The Ordeal of Power’..is a political memoir..of highly questionable taste and propriety. It is a kiss-and-tell book.
1966 19th-cent. Fiction 20 408 The twentieth-century kiss-and-tell school of literary lovers, as exemplified by the movie-magazine antics of Simone de Beauvoir and Nelson Algren.
1984 Sounds 29 Dec. 14/2 Don't invite kiss-and-tell girls.
2001 Mirror (Electronic ed.) 19 Jan. But it is believed that he turned down a £1 million offer to write a ‘kiss and tell’ account of his life with the most famous woman in the world.
This is a new entry (OED Third Edition, September 2001; most recently modified version published online March 2022).
> as lemmas
to kiss and tell
m. to kiss and tell: to recount one's sexual exploits.
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the world > physical sensation > sexual relations > sexual activity > engage in sexual activity [verb (intransitive)] > recount one's sexual exploits
to kiss and tell1695
1695 W. Congreve Love for Love ii. 30 Oh fie Miss, you must not kiss and tell.
1846 ‘Lord Chief Baron’ Swell's Night Guide (new ed.) 88 Let those who wish to know her qualifications as une coucheuse, try her; for we will not, on all occasions, kiss and tell.
1921 G. B. Shaw Let. 30 Dec. in Bernard Shaw & Mrs. P. Campbell (1952) 235 A gentleman does not kiss and tell.
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n.adj.1726as lemmas