osculation

Estimated CEFR level: C2 — Proficiency

Estimated from word frequency; not an official CEFR classification.

Definition

noun (mathematics) a contact of two curves (or two surfaces) at which they have a common tangent
noun the act of caressing with the lips (or an instance thereof)

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

1 thrilled to the rapture of that imagined osculation, Billy No. — The Dop Doctor, Richard Dehan
"When this command had been obeyed with urbane alacrity, Sam called out again, very much as if he were piping all hands to osculation: 'Rev. Mr. — John Gayther's Garden and the Stories Told Therein, Frank R. Stockton
He kissed the plump mellow yellow smellow melons of her rump, on each plump melonous hemisphere, in their mellow yellow furrow, with obscure prolonged provocative melonsmellonous osculation. — Ulysses, James Joyce

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