osculation

noun /ˌɒs.kjʊˈleɪ.ʃən/

1. The action of kissing.

   countable, uncountable

2. A kiss.

   countable, uncountable

   The Major she held to be a sort of Bayard among Majors: and as for her son Arthur she worshipped that youth with an ardour which the young scapegrace accepted almost as coolly as the statue of the Saint in Saint Peter’s receives the rapturous osculations which the faithful deliver on his toe.

3. A close contact.

   countable, uncountable

4. A contact between curves or surfaces, at which point they have a common tangent.

   countable, uncountable

Where it comes from

From Latin ōsculātiō (“a kissing”), from ōsculor (“to kiss”). By surface analysis, osculate + -ion.

Adapted from the Wiktionary entry osculation (CC BY-SA 4.0).

← osculantosetra →

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