Buss
Origin
Origin uncertain; probably ultimately imitative.
Full definition of buss
Noun
buss
(plural busses)- (archaic) A kiss.
- Fielding Tom Jones|VII|xiiiHere he gave Jones a hearty buss, shook him by the hand, and took his leave.
- A herring buss, a type of shallow-keeled Dutch fishing boat used especially for herring fishing.
- MacaulayThe Dutch whalers and herring busses.
Synonyms
Verb
- (transitive) To kiss (either literally or figuratively).
- c. 1616, Shakespeare, King John, (1623) iii, iv p35:I will thinke thou smil'st, And busse thee as thy wife.
- 1982, TC Boyle, Water Music, Penguin 2006, p. 189:As the repatriated explorer dodges down to buss the earth … he is so thoroughly caught up in the rhapsody of the moment that he fails to take into account the traffic behind him.
- 2007, Fiddlehead, Winter 61:Sam...really was six-ten and his head bussed the ceiling.
- (intransitive) To kiss.
- 2007, James Isaiah Gabbe, LaRue's Maneuvers, Chapter 10, LaRue, The Blue Light, p259-60:In the faint glow of a single blue bulb hanging from a clothesline they bussed and fondled.