kisses

1. 1
   noun

   Plural of kiss.

   Grandmother greeted each grandchild with warm kisses on both cheeks.

   The letter ended with a row of little kisses scrawled beneath his signature.

   Note

   A regular plural that takes -es because the stem already ends in a hissing s sound. It carries every countable meaning of the noun. On paper, kisses are the row of X's that close a letter. In a candy dish, they are small filled chocolates. Among balloonists, they are gentle mid-air bumps between envelopes that harm no one. Context, not form, tells them apart.

2. 2
   verb

   Third-person singular simple present of kiss.

   The bride kisses her father lightly on the cheek before walking down the aisle.

   Whenever the dog returns from a walk, it kisses everyone in sight.

   Note

   The present-tense form for he, she or it, spelled exactly like the noun plural, so only the sentence tells them apart: she kisses him, but warm kisses. Beyond lips, it covers any light touch: a ball kisses the rim, a breeze kisses the water. The reciprocal use needs a plural subject, so it usually surfaces as kiss (they kiss), seldom as kisses.

3. 3
   nounobsolete

   Plural of kisse.

   Note

   An obsolete spelling's plural that happens to look exactly like the modern plural. Once the ending is added, the old final -e of kisse vanishes into kisses, so a reader of early spelling meets no visible difference and nothing needs translating. In current writing, use kiss for one and kisses for more. Kisse belongs only to reproduced older spelling.

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