[See KISS-.]
1. A small bonnet standing far back on the head, formerly fashionable. (Also attrib.)
1852. G. W. Bungay, Crayon Sk. (1854), 372. This famous hero, I would say shero, wears … a Kossuth hat in the place of a ‘kiss-me-quick.’
1855. Haliburton, Nat. & Hum. Nat., I. 287. She has a new bonnet on…. It has a horrid name, it is called a kiss-me-quick.
1886. Baring-Gould, Court Royal, ii. This Dolly Varden with panniers … and a kiss-me-quick bonnet.
2. A ringlet in front of the ear. (Also attrib.)
1893. ‘Q.’ (Quiller-Couch), Delectable Duchy, 16. Her hair … had … been … twisted in front of either ear, into that particular ringlet locally called a kiss-me-quick.
3. Local name for several plants, also called kiss-me (see KISS-). So Kiss-me-quick-and-go, Southernwood (Artemisia Abrotanum).
1882. H. Friend, Devon. Plant N., Kiss-me, Kiss-me-love, or Kiss-me-quick, (1) Saxifraga umbrosa.… (2) Geranium Robertianum.… (3) … Centranthus ruber. Ibid., Kiss-me-quick-and-go, Artemisia Abrotanum. Doubtless in reference to the other common names of Boy’s Love, Maiden’s Ruin.
1886. Elworthy, W. Som. Word-bk., Kiss-me-quick, the pansy or heart’s-ease. The wild variety.
