Definitions
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A bundle of
evergreen leaves or branches, typically with berries, hung up atChristmas -time, under which people maykiss .
Etymologies
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Examples
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Occasionally, however, the dolls are arranged in the kissing-bunch to represent a manger scene.
A Righte Merrie Christmasse The Story of Christ-Tide John Ashton
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Mistletoe is not very plentiful in Derbyshire; but, generally, a bit is obtainable, and this is carefully tied to the bottom of the kissing-bunch, which is then hung in the middle of the house-place, the centre of attraction during Christmas-tide.
A Righte Merrie Christmasse The Story of Christ-Tide John Ashton
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These dolls generally hang within the kissing-bunch by strings from the top, and are surrounded by apples, oranges tied to strings, and various brightly coloured ornaments.
A Righte Merrie Christmasse The Story of Christ-Tide John Ashton
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It was small and curious to her, with its glittering kissing-bunch, its evergreens behind the pictures, its wooden chairs and little deal table.
Sons and Lovers 1913
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It was small and curious to her, with its glittering kissing-bunch, its evergreens behind the pictures, its wooden chairs and little deal table.
Sons and Lovers 1907
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"This 'kissing-bunch' is always an elaborate affair.
A Righte Merrie Christmasse The Story of Christ-Tide John Ashton
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[Footnote 38: Fifth series, viii.p. 481.] "The lasses have made their own special preparations, and for two or three days before Christmas Eve have been getting ready the accustomed house decorations -- short garlands of holly and other evergreens for the tops of cupboards, pictures, and other furniture -- and making up the most important decoration of all, 'the kissing-bunch.'
A Righte Merrie Christmasse The Story of Christ-Tide John Ashton
Gammerstang commented on the word kissing-bunch
(noun) - (1) A bush of evergreens sometimes substituted for mistletoe at Christmas.
--Thomas Wright's Dictionary of Obsolete and Provincial English, 1857
(2) The old "kissing bunch" is still hung in some of the old-fashioned cottage houses of Derbyshire and Cornwall - two wooden hoops, one passing through the other, decked with evergreen, in the centre of which is hung a "crown" of rosy apples and a sprig of mistletoe. This is hung from the central beam of the living-room, and underneath it is much kissing and romping. Later on, the carol-singers stand beneath it and sing God Rest Ye, Merry Gentlemen.
--Peter Ditchfield's Old English Customs, 1901
January 16, 2018