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osculate - 5 dictionary results

os⋅cu⋅late

  [os-kyuh-leyt] verb, -lat⋅ed, -lat⋅ing.
Use osculate in a Sentence
–verb (used without object)
1. to come into close contact or union.
2. Geometry. (of a curve) to touch another curve or another part of the same curve so as to have the same tangent and curvature at the point of contact.
–verb (used with object)
3. to bring into close contact or union.
4. Geometry. (of a curve) to touch (another curve or another part of the same curve) in osculation.
5. to kiss.
Origin:
1650–60; < L ōsculātus (ptp. of ōsculārī to kiss), equiv. to ōscul(um) kiss, lit., little mouth (see osculum ) + -ātus -ate 1

Related forms:
os⋅cu⋅la⋅to⋅ry  [os-kyuh-luh-tawr-ee, -tohr-ee] , adjective
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source Link To osculate
os·cu·late   (ŏs'kyə-lāt')   
v.   os·cu·lat·ed, os·cu·lat·ing, os·cu·lates

v.   tr.
  1. To kiss.
  2. Mathematics To have three or more points coincident with.
v.   intr.
To come together; contact.

[Latin ōsculārī, ōsculāt-, from ōsculum, kiss, diminutive of ōs, mouth; see ōs- in Indo-European roots.]
The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright © 2009 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
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Osculate

Os"cu*late\, v. t. [imp. & p. p. Osculated; p. pr. & vb. n. Osculating.] [L. osculatus, p. p. of osculari to kiss, fr. osculum a little mouth, a kiss, dim. of os mouth. See Oral, and cf. Oscillate.]

1. To kiss.

2. (Geom.) To touch closely, so as to have a common curvature at the point of contact. See Osculation, 2.

Osculate

Os"cu*late\, v. i. 1. To kiss one another; to kiss.

2. (Geom.) To touch closely. See Osculation, 2.

3. (Biol.) To have characters in common with two genera or families, so as to form a connecting link between them; to interosculate. See Osculant.
Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary, © 1996, 1998 MICRA, Inc.
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osculate 
"to kiss," 1656, from L. osculari, from osculum "kiss," lit. "little mouth," dim. of os "mouth" (see oral).
Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2001 Douglas Harper
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