French kiss

plural French kisses · alternative French-kiss · alternative french-kiss · alternative frenchkiss

1. A kiss in the French style, variously understood as:
   1. The act or an instance of kissing that involves the use of one's tongue.

      She showed me the French kiss where you stick your tongue out, but I didn't like it.

      1922, Elliot Harold Paul, Indelible, page 61

      1 more example

      Simple lip kissing may be extended into a deep kiss (a French kiss or soul kiss, in the college parlance) which may involve more or less extensive tongue contacts.

      1948, Alfred Charles Kinsey et al., Sexual Behavior of the Human Male, page 540

   2. uncommonThe act or an instance of kissing another person's cheeks in turn as a greeting.

      She had informed the amused seniors that the custom of greeting people with a kiss on each cheek was known as the French kiss.

      2007, Ronald Johnston, Big Lie, page 37

      1 more example

      I do not think there would be any harm in sending him a French kiss. It is what no English lawyer can object to, it being only justice to make both sides of the face alike.

      1836, John Scott, letter

   3. rareThe act or an instance of touching cheeks together in turn as a greeting.

      Frenchwomen touch cheeks, first one, then the other, and this touching of cheeks is known in England as the French kiss and has been adopted to a considerable extent in London among society women.

      1898 August 31, Bangor Daily Whig, page 4

present singular third person French kisses · participle present French kissing · participle past French kissed · past French kissed · alternative French-kiss · alternative french-kiss · alternative frenchkiss

1. ambitransitiveTo give a French kiss, in its various senses.

   French kiss, baiser très appuyé.

   1923, Joseph Manchon, Le Slang, page 130

   4 more examples

   She taught him how to frenchkiss and would stroke his hair.

   1930, John Dos Passos, The 42nd Parallel (U.S.A.), page 390

   French kissin' in the USA, French kissin' in the USA, yeah, yeah

   1986, Chuck Lorre, “French Kissin'”, in Rockbird, performed by Debbie Harry

   Sick Boy had made a drunken point about HIV transmission and to illustrate it had spent most of the night french-kissing her.

   1994 [1993], Irvine Welsh, Trainspotting, London: Minerva, →ISBN, page 326

   That's how she pictured him, her French lover, like the deepest kiss that she had ever felt. She who had never French kissed.

   2007, Nin Andrews, Sleeping with Houdini: Poems, BOA Editions, →ISBN, page 76

   Synonyms: french, French, snog