kiss of life
In real, traceable use. Part of the curated seed collection; community review is coming.
Meaning · English
An action that revives.
Where it’s used:
Used
Widespread English
Examples
Kiss of death to life - saving?
Officer Marco Pisano, 30, gave Simone Predico, 22, the kiss of life before handing him a ticket in the Italian town of Lodi.
British National Corpus sentence via the MAGPIE corpus (CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-30)
Sources & notes
Listed in Wiktionary’s “English idioms” category (retrieved 2026-07-29); definition pending editorial review. Figurative class: Metaphor (PIE-English corpus, CC BY 4.0, retrieved 2026-07-31).
Common questions
What does “kiss of life” mean?
An action that revives.
Is “kiss of life” formal or informal?
No register label has been reviewed yet — treat it as neutral and check the usage notes above.