Forms: α. 1–4 cos, coss, 3–5 cosse, 4–6 kosse. β. 4 cuss, 5 cus, cusse, kus, 6 kusse. γ. 4–7 kisse, 5 kys, 5–6 kysse, 4, 7– kiss. [OE. coss = OFris. kos, OS. cos, kus (MDu. cus, cuss, Du. kus), OHG. chus (MHG. kus, kos, G. kuss), ON. koss:—OTeut. *kuss-oz. ME. cuss (kus) was app. developed from coss, as it appears to have had (u) not (ü), and occurs in texts which do not use cusse (cüsse) for the vb. The mod.Eng. form (like Da. kys, Sw. kyss) is from the vb.]
1. A touch or pressure given with the lips (see KISS v.1), in token of affection, greeting or reverence; a salute or caress given with the lips.
α. c. 1000. Ælfric, Hom., II. 32. Ic hine to minum cosse arærde.
c. 1000. Ags. Gosp., Luke xxii. 48. Mannes sunu þu mid cosse sylst.
a. 1100. Ags. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 309/8. Osculum, cos.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 194. Wo wurðe his cos: vor hit is Judases cos þet he ou mide cusseð.
13[?]. Gaw. & Gr. Knt., 1300. He had craued a cosse, bi his courtaysye.
1382. Wyclif, Song Sol. i. 1. Kisse he me with the cos of his mowth.
1482. Monk of Evesham (Arb.), 25. He … with cossis and terys watryd the fete of the crosse.
a. 1553. Udall, Royster D., I. iii. 24. I will not sticke for a kosse with such a man as you.
β. 1390. Gower, Conf., II. 348. Yit wol he stele a cuss or tuo.
c. 1430. Hymns Virgin, 12. Ful curteis was þi comeli cus [rhyme ihesus].
c. 1440. Partonope, *3236. Ther with she yaf hym a swete cus.
a. 1529. Skelton, P. Sparowe, 361. Many a prety kusse Had I of his swete musse.
γ. c. 1340. Cursor M., 15779 (Gött.). Wid a kiss [other MSS. coss, cosse] has þu mannes sune vnto þi bandun broght. Ibid., 17198 (Gött.). Kisse of saghtling þu me bedis.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 277/1. Kys, or kus, osculum, basium.
c. 1489. Caxton, Blanchardyn, ix. 39. To haue a kysse or cusse of her mouth.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 278 b. Kysse me lorde, with the kysse of thy mouth.
1599. Shaks., Much Ado, II. i. 322. Speake cosin, or … stop his mouth with a kisse, and let not him speake neither.
1667. Milton, P. L., IV. 502. He … press’d her Matron lip With kisses pure.
1796–7. Coleridge, To Sara, 4. Ah why refuse the blameless bliss? Can danger lurk within a kiss?
1833. Tennyson, Fatima, iii. He drew With one long kiss my whole soul thro’ My lips.
1852. Hook, Ch. Dict. (1871), 424. The kiss of peace … was one of the rites of the eucharistic service in the primitive church.
1871. R. Ellis, Catullus, vii. 1. Ask me, Lesbia, what the sum delightful Of thy kisses.
2. fig. A light touch or impact.
1588. Shaks., L. L. L., IV. iii. 26. So sweete a kisse the golden Sunne giues not, To those fresh morning drops vpon the Rose.
1821. Shelley, Epipsych., 547. Where the pebble-paven shore, Under the quick, faint kisses of the sea Trembles and sparkles.
1850. Tennyson, In Mem., cxvii. Every kiss of toothed wheels.
b. Billiards, etc. (See KISS v. 3 c.)
1836. T. Hook, G. Gurney, III. 154. ‘That is a cannon however.’ ‘Not a bit of it!… a kiss!’
1859. Crawley, Billiards, 95. All these canons are made by a kiss from the cushion.
1874. J. D. Heath, Croquet-Player, 35. A proper laying of the balls will preclude the undesirable kiss.
3. Name for a small sweetmeat or piece of confectionery; a sugar-plum.
1825. Brockett, Kisses, small confections or sugar plums. Perhaps the same as Shakspeare’s kissing-comfits.
1887. Stevenson, in Scribner’s Mag., I. 612/2. Munching a ‘barley-sugar kiss.’
4. A fanciful term for a drop of sealing-wax accidentally let fall beside the seal.
1829. Young Lady’s Bk., 337. No drops, or, as our country cousins designate them, kisses, will fall in the passage of the wax from the taper to the proper location of the seal.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, xxvii. ‘It’s Peggy O’Dowd’s fist,’ said George, laughing. ‘I know it by the kisses on the seal.’
1850. Dickens, Detective Police Party, Wks. (Libr. ed.), VIII. 307. I observed that on the back of the letter there was what we call a kiss—a drop of wax by the side of the seal.
5. pl. A local name for the heartsease (Viola tricolor); cf. kiss-me, etc., in KISS-, KISS-ME-QUICK 3.
1840. Spurdens, Suppl. Forby, Kisses, the pansy; heart’s-ease.
6. Comb., as kiss-giver, -thrower; kiss-worthy adj.; kiss-wise adv., in the manner of a kiss.
a. 1586. Sidney, Astr. & Stella, lxxiii. Thy most kisse-worthy face.
1735. Fanshaw’s trans. Guarini’s Pastor Fido, II. i. She, that is The best kiss-giver, shall receive her mead.
1860. T. L. Peacock, Gryll Grange, 298. A most beautiful kiss-thrower.
1875. Lanier, Poems, Symphony, 291. Lips kiss-wise set.
