kiss hands
kiss hands verb: to formally accept an appointment as prime minister or certain other ministerial positions in a royal ceremony.
Verb
kiss hands (third-person singular simple present kisses hands, present participle kissing hands, simple past and past participle kissed hands)
- To formally accept an appointment as prime minister or certain other ministerial positions in a royal ceremony.
- Bishop Wilberforce had accompanied Mr. Gladstone to Windsor, when he went to kiss hands on his appointment as Prime Minister.1896, Reginald Baliol Brett Esher (Viscount), The Yoke of Empire: Sketches of the Queen's Prime Ministers, page 175
- His Majesty received in audience the Rt Hon Andrew Burnham MP and requested him to form a new Administration. The Rt Hon Andrew Burnham MP accepted The King’s offer and kissed hands upon his appointment as Prime Minister and First Lord of the Treasury.2026 July 20, Buckingham Palace
- Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see kiss, hands.
Forms of kiss hands
| third-person singular present | kisses hands |
|---|---|
| present participle | kissing hands |
| past participle | kissed hands |
| past | kissed hands |
Origin of kiss hands
Originally, people appointed by the sovereign would demonstrate fealty by kissing the sovereign's hand.
Questions about kiss hands
- What does kiss hands mean?
- Kiss hands means to formally accept an appointment as prime minister or certain other ministerial positions in a royal ceremony.
- What part of speech is kiss hands?
- Kiss hands is a verb.
- What is the past tense of kiss hands?
- The past tense of kiss hands is kissed hands.
Words near kiss hands in the dictionary
Source and license
Adapted from Wiktionary: kiss hands (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.
Last updated:
Cite this entry: “kiss hands.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/kiss_hands. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.