kiss
/kɪs
/- They started to kiss, just lightly at first, and then with more passion.
- The desire to kiss him again is almost overwhelming - but she can't ignore her own beliefs.
- She closed her eyes once again as the man she loved hugged and kissed her one last time.
Synonyms
- She then leaned back and they shared a deep, passionate kiss for a few seconds.
- He never gave us a kiss or showed any affection at all.
- As I lay on the couch that evening, I felt a touch on my forehead and a kiss on my cheek.
Synonyms
- One woman hands him a handwritten letter covered in kisses and hearts.
- Let's begin with why do Xs sometimes (esp. at the end of a letter) signify kisses?
- Highly emotive, Kahlo was passionate in her prose, sealing the letter illustrated with lipstick kisses.
- Potting the white, or a double kiss, just like this.
Phrases
kiss and make up
kiss and tell
kiss someone's arse (or ass)
kiss ass
kiss something better
kiss something goodbye (or kiss goodbye to something)
kiss of death
kiss of life
kiss of peace
kiss the rod
Phrasal verbs
kiss someone/thing off
kiss up to
Derivatives
kissable
/ adjective ...- And besides, you've got an incredibly kissable mouth.
- Apply lip balm daily to keep your lips in kissable condition.
- Sitting beside Mark her head resting on his shoulder, smiling and chatting with his sister she looked absolutely adorable and so very kissable.
Origin
Old English cyssan (verb), of Germanic origin; related to Dutch kussen and German küssen.
An action or event causing certain failure for an enterprise may be described as the kiss of death. Although the phrase is relatively recent it is thought to refer to a story in the Bible. In the biblical account of the arrest of Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane, Judas Iscariot identified Jesus to the soldiers who would arrest him by greeting him with a kiss. The expression is often used of apparently beneficial or well-meaning actions that somehow tempt fate, and have the opposite result to that intended. A much earlier traditional expression for an act of betrayal, a Judas kiss, refers to the same story. The last words of Lord Nelson, fatally wounded at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, are usually quoted as ‘Kiss me, Hardy’, spoken to Thomas Hardy, the captain of Nelson's ship, HMS Victory. According to eyewitness accounts he did say this, but it was not his final speech. His real last words were either ‘Drink, drink. Fan, fan. Rub, rub’, asking the doctor to give him a drink, fan him, and rub him to relieve his pain, or ‘Thank God, I have done my duty’.