French kiss

• French-kiss, french-kiss, frenchkiss (verb only)

Originally in reference to a common French greeting. Later, from English and American associations of the French people with sexual boldness (see French), with probable influence from earlier English and continuing European association of the French with oral sex. (See to french.)

• IPA^(key): /frɛntʃˈkɪs/, /frɛnʃˈkɪs/

• Audio (AU)

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French kiss (plural French kisses)

1. A kiss in the French style, variously understood as
   1. (now uncommon) The act or an instance of kissing another person's cheeks in turn as a greeting.
      • 1836, John Scott, letter:

        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.

      • 2007, Ronald Johnston, Big Lie, page 37:

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

   2. (rare) The act or an instance of touching cheeks together in turn as a greeting.
      • 1898 August 31, Bangor Daily Whig, page 4:

        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.

   3. The act or an instance of kissing that involves the use of one's tongue.
      • 1922, Elliot Harold Paul, Indelible, page 61:

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

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

        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.

• (kiss involving the tongue): tongue kiss, cataglottism, soul kiss (US), snog (UK), shift (IRE), to meet (IRE), pash (AU, NZ)

French kiss (third-person singular simple present French kisses, present participle French kissing, simple past and past participle French kissed)

1. (transitive, intransitive) To give a French kiss, in its various senses.
   • 1923, Joseph Manchon, Le Slang, page 130:

     French kiss, baiser très appuyé.

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

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

   • 1986, Chuck Lorre (lyrics and music), “French Kissin'”, in Rockbird, performed by Debbie Harry:

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

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

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

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

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

• french, French; snog (UK)

• “French kiss, n.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 2009.
• “French kiss, v.”, in OED Online ⁠, Oxford, Oxfordshire: Oxford University Press, 2009.