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Sunday February 14, 2010

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osculation [os-kyuh-LAY-shuhn]

noun

1. The act of kissing.
2. A kiss.
3. A contact of two curves (or two surfaces) at which they have a common tangent (of mathematics).

• "The Greeks seem to have kissed less than the Romans, not that I have the videotape or Kinsey Institute of Rome to reference. "We see the escalation of osculation" -- that's the rise of kissing -- "through the art we find," said Lateiner, who also is scheduled to speak at this weekend's conference.
  Jason George, "The science of smooching: Studies show men and women respond to kissing differently: Women can use it to assess a mate's health, men to end a quarrel", McClatchy - Tribune Business News, Feb 15, 2009
• Eliminate the quick osculation, the sporty cheek-to-cheek, all those smothering demonstrations of love and fondness we gaspingly survived at our births. A real-life kiss. Yep, that's just about the best way to describe it -- an emotion rising from deep within, demanding intimacy, a reflection of affection, a silent expression of inexpressible sentiment, surfacing to that crescendo moment of shadowed privacy.
  Ed Hayes, "Does a kiss just pay lip service to deeper emotions?", Orlando Sentinel, Sep 21, 2008
• I was glad, too, to observe that, in the code of etiquette which prevails in "the first Celestial Heaven," the European habit of osculation is recognised; though it seems that you have to go through a very hell of a time before you get to it.
  Punch, or the London Charivari, Vol. 146 (1814)

Origin of the Word

Osculation, approximately 1650, derives from Latin osculationem, noun of action from osculari, from osculum "kiss," literally "little mouth."