Meanings
plural Glasgow kisses
- UKeuphemistichumorousA sharp, sudden headbutt to the nose, usually resulting in a broken nose.
In a Glasgow Kiss the hard head butted his huge nose, flattened it with a crunching sound […]
1962, Frank Bruno, The Black Pearl, page 1871 more example
[…] the first white Yank glasses the first black Yank so I get in there and gave him the Glasgow kiss and that's that.
2014, Iain Maloney, First Time Solo, →ISBN, page 60Synonyms: Gorbals kiss
Synonyms & antonyms
nounA sharp, sudden headbutt to the nose, usually resulting in a broken nose.
Origin
Sarcastic reference to the supposed stereotypical belligerence of Glaswegians.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Glasgow kiss. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Glasgow%20kiss
“Glasgow kiss.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Glasgow%20kiss. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Glasgow kiss,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Glasgow%20kiss.
Source: Glasgow kiss on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.