kissing ball

From kissing (noun) +‎ ball (noun), from the custom of people kissing under the suspended ornament: see the 2001 quotation.

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /ˈkɪsɪŋ ˌbɔːl/, /ˌkɪsɪŋ ˈbɔːl/

• Audio (Southern England):

  (file)

• (General American) IPA^(key): /ˈkɪsɪŋ ˌbɔl/, /ˌkɪsɪŋ ˈbɔl/, (cot–caught merger) /-ˌbɑl/, /-ˈbɑl/
• Rhymes: -ɔːl
• Hyphenation: kiss‧ing ball

kissing ball (plural kissing balls)

1. A hanging ornament, often used as a Christmas decoration, made by arranging plant parts, especially sprigs of holly or mistletoe, and evergreen leaves, into a ball shape.
   • 1953 March–April, Sam M. Wilson, “Division Three”, in Margaret Burk, editor, North Carolina Roadways: A Magazine for Employees of the State Highway Commission, Raleigh, N.C.: Highway Information Department, →OCLC, page 10, column 1:

     The Division Office employees and their families enjoyed a Christmas party at the Highway Patrol clubhouse […] Clara Moran and Jackie Russ were responsible for the decorations—a tree and "kissing ball" of mistletoe …

   • 1991, Susan Hight Rountree, “Cones, Topiaries, and Kissing Balls”, in Christmas Decorations from Williamsburg, Williamsburg, Va.: The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation, published 1992, →ISBN, page 83:

     Kissing balls using fresh or dried herbs, flowers, cones, berries, or fresh greens make wonderful holiday decorations.

   • 2001 October, “Deck the Halls”, in Celebrating the Tradition: The Victorian Christmas Booklet (Front Range Christmas Tree Program), Golden, Colo.: USDA Forest Service, Rocky Mountain Region, →OCLC, page 18:

     And, most certainly we are careful to add the requisite bunch of mistletoe – often including a sprig in a kissing ball suspended in the front entryway. Of course, we always make certain there are plenty of berries on the mistletoe. Each kiss captured beneath the kissing ball necessitates the removal of one of the berries in keeping with the traditional rhyme: / Pluck a berry from the mistletoe / For every kiss that's given. / When the berries are all picked / It brings an end to kissing.

   • 2008 spring–summer, Mary Kenny, “Nicole Knox & Dave Rickards”, in Heather Holliday, editor, Exquisite Weddings, volume 2, number 1, San Diego, Calif.: San Diego Magazine, →OCLC, page 139, column 1:

     Dave and Nicole exchanged vows and rings beneath an iron canopy topped and sided in ivory organza, complete with a "kissing ball" bouquet of black roses (matching Nicole's bouquet) hanging from a chain of orchid blossoms.