buss
verbEtymology Uncertain. First attested in the 1560s. Possibly from Proto-Indo-European *bʰus- (“lip, to kiss”) via Proto-Germanic *busaną (compare German bussen), but in any case imitative of kissing. Compare Welsh bus (“kiss, lip”) and Irish bus (“lips, mouth”) (both may have influenced English), Persian بوس (bus, “kiss”), Latvian buča (“kiss”), Latin basium (“kiss”). Mainstream proposals like in The Free Dictionary have suggested it is a blend of old English dialect words bass (related to French baiser) and cuss (akin to kissen); perhaps compare puss.
- I will thinke thou smil'st, And busse thee as thy wife.c. 1596 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life and Death of King Iohn”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act III, scene iv]:
- 'I take the privilege, Mistress Ruth, of saluting you.' ...And therewith I bussed her well.1869, Richard Blackmore, Lorna Doone, page 1:
2 more examples
- 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.1982, TC Boyle, Water Music, Penguin, published 2006, page 189:
- Sam...really was six-ten and his head bussed the ceiling.2007, Winter 61, Fiddlehead:
2
To kiss.
- In the faint glow of a single blue bulb hanging from a clothesline they bussed and fondled.2007, James Isaiah Gabbe, LaRue's Maneuvers, Chapter 10, LaRue, The Blue Light, p259-60