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Kiss the Mistress (To)

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To make a good hit, to shoot right into the eye of the target. In bowls, what we now call the Jack used to be called the “mistress,” and when one ball just touches another it is said “to kiss it.” To kiss the Mistress or Jack is to graze another bowl with your own.

Rub on, and kiss the mistress.”—Shakespeare. Troilus and Cressida, iii. 2.

 

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Entry taken from Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.

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Kirk of Skulls
Kirke-grim
Kirke’s Lambs
Kirkrapine
Kismet
Kiss
Kiss Hands (To)
Kiss the Book
Kiss the Dust
Kiss the Hare’s Foot (To)
Kiss the Mistress (To)
Kiss the Rod (To)
Kiss behind the Garden Gate (A)
Kiss given to a Poet
Kiss the Gunner’s Daughter (To)
Kiss the Place to make it Well
Kissing-comfit
Kissing-crust
Kissing the Hand
Kissing the Pope’s Toe
Kissing under the Mistletoe