osculation
[os-kyuh-ley-shuh n]
- the act of kissing.
- a kiss.
- close contact.
- Geometry. the contact between two osculating curves or the like.
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Origin of osculation
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Related Words
buss, smooch, smack, caress, embrace, smacker, endearment, salutation, peck, salute, butterflyExamples from the Web for osculation
Historical Examples
If osculation is a mark of love, surely Mrs. Mack is the best of mothers.
The NewcomesWilliam Makepeace Thackeray
I've half a mind to ride back and have him out for that rascal "osculation" and the lady unwilling!
Diana of the Crossways, CompleteGeorge Meredith
I think I am able to assure the reader that in her head the osculation had given birth to no reveries.
Miss Ravenel's conversion from secession to loyaltyJ. W. de Forest
If there was anything in the way of osculation that that member of an old Austrian family didn't know, I've got to find it out.
Where There's A WillMary Roberts Rinehart
Then the crowns were removed and kissed by each of the marrying pair, the bridegroom first performing the osculation.
Overland through Asia; Pictures of Siberian, Chinese, and Tartar LifeThomas Wallace Knox
osculation
- Also called: tacnode maths a point at which two branches of a curve have a common tangent, each branch extending in both directions of the tangent
- rare the act or an instance of kissing
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Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012
Word Origin and History for osculation
n.
"kissing; a kiss," 1650s, from Latin osculationem (nominative osculatio), noun of action from past participle stem of osculari (see osculate).
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper