steal a kiss

English

Verb

steal a kiss (third-person singular simple present steals a kiss, present participle stealing a kiss, simple past stole a kiss, past participle stolen a kiss)

1. To kiss someone secretly or discreetly.
   • c. 1415-1440 (date written), Charles, Duke of Orléans, reproduced by E. K. Chambers, Early English Lyrics: Amorous, Divine, Moral and Trivial (1907), p. 31:

     My ghostly fader, I me confesse,
       First to God and then to you,
     That at a window,—wot ye how?—
       I stale a cosse of grete sweteness.

   • c. 1590–1591 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Two Gentlemen of Verona”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iv], page 26, column 2:

     To beare my Ladies traine, leſt the baſe earth / Should from her venture chance to ſteale a kiſſe, / And of ſo great a fauor growing proud,

   • 1891, Thomas Hardy, Tess of the d’Urbervilles: A Pure Woman Faithfully Presented […], volumes (please specify |volume=I to III), London: James R[ipley] Osgood, McIlvaine and Co., […], →OCLC:

     She accepted these terms, and slid off on the near side, though not till he had stolen a cursory kiss.

   • 1948, Nacio Herb Brown, Edward Heyman (lyrics and music), “If I Steal A Kiss”, performed by Frank Sinatra:

     If I steal a kiss, dear, I'll surely return it someday / If I steal your dreams, dear, I'll bring them back some way

Translations

to kiss someone secretly or discreetly

• Hungarian: csókot lop, csókot csen
• Tagalog: magnakaw ng halik