bill and coo

present singular third person bills and coos · participle present billing and cooing · participle past billed and cooed · past billed and cooed

1. To coo and rub beaks as a prelude to mating.
2. To exchange loving and affectionate behaviour, such as caresses and kisses.

   Take a sweet girl just like you / How nice if only we could bill and coo

   1973, Bryan Ferry, “Pyjamarama”, performed by Roxy Music

   2 more examples

   To be brave, handsome, twenty-two; / With nothing else on earth to do, / But all day long to bill and coo; / It were a pleasant calling.

   1869, William Thackeray, “Piscator and Piscatrix”, in Ballads, published 1881, page 88

   "It's not as if you two were young people, and wanted to be billing and cooing," Lady Ball had said to her the same evening. Miss Mackenzie, as she thought of this, was not so sure that Lady Ball was right. Why would she not want billing and cooing as well as another?

   1875, Anthony Trollope, Miss Mackenzie, Norilana Books, page 122