[f. KISS v. + -ING1.]
1. The action of the verb KISS.
a. 1300. Floriz & Bl., 513. Here kessinge ileste amile And þat hem þuzte litel while.
a. 1310. in Wright, Lyric P., xxv. 70. Thin heved doun boweth to suete cussinge.
c. 1400. Destr. Troy, 2931. Acoyntyng hom with kissyng & clippyng in Armes.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 284 b. Goostly embracynges, clepynges, kyssynges.
1697. Vanbrugh, Relapse, V. ii. Kissing goes by Favour; he likes you best.
a. 1714. Burnet, Hist. Ref. (1820), III. 101. So many bowings, crossings, and kissings of the altar.
1860. Pusey, Min. Proph., 82. Kissing in the East was a token of Divine honour, whether to an idol or to God.
2. attrib. and Comb., as kissing scene, -stuff; † kissing cause (app.) = next; † kissing-comfit, a perfumed comfit for sweetening the breath; kissing dance = CUSHION-DANCE; kissing-gate, a small gate swinging in a U- or V-shaped enclosure, so as to allow only one person to pass at a time; † kissing-strings sb. pl., a woman’s bonnet- or cap-strings tied under the chin with the ends hanging loose.
1620. Swetnam Arraign’d (1880), 12. Their very breath Is sophisticated with Amber-pellets, and *kissing causes.
1598. Shaks., Merry W., V. v. 22. Let it … haile *kissing-Comfits, and snow Eringoes.
1660. R. May, Accompl. Cook (1665), 271. To make Muskedines, called Rising Comfits or Kissing Comfits.
1900. Newcastle Weekly Chron., 16 June, 5/6. The famous *kissing dance, ‘Joan Saunderson.’
1875. Parish, Sussex Gloss., Cuckoo Gate,… called in Hampshire a *kissing-gate.
1886. Elworthy, W. Som. Word-bk., Kissing-gate … It is only made to open far enough for one person to pass at a time.
1896. Daily Mail, 9 Nov., 1/6. The disappearance of the last of the kissing-gates on Parliament Hill.
a. 1735. Arbuthnot, John Bull, III. Misc. Wks. 1751, II. 89. The *kissing-Scene being at an end.
1705. London Ladies Dressing-room (N.). Behind her back the streamers fly, And *kissing-strings hang dangling by.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., xlv. The old-fashioned terms of manteaus, sacques, kissing-strings, and so forth, would convey but little information even to the milliners of the present day.
1690. Crowne, Eng. Frier, III. 30. Fy Sir: you are a Priest, you have no *kissing-stuff about you.
