pucker up
verb

- to squeeze one's lips together in the way people do when they are going to kiss someone.

- to contract the lips as in preparing to kiss; also used of fabric or skin that wrinkles or draws together.

- to tighten one's lips together into a circle as if to kiss.

Merriam-Webster, Farlex Dictionary, Collins English Dictionary

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PHRASE ORIGIN

The verb pucker dates to around 1590–1600 and almost certainly derives from poke — an old English word for a small sack or bag (still alive in "pig in a poke"). The underlying idea is of fabric being gathered and drawn up into bag-like folds, exactly what the muscle around the lips does when you press them together.

Some etymologists also connect it to the Proto-Germanic root puk-, associated with swelling, and to the PIE root beu-, an expressive, imitative root linked to words meaning "to puff up" or "to bulge" — cousins include pocket, pouch and the Dutch poke.

By the early 17th century the verb had broadened: seamstresses used "pucker" for cloth that bunched incorrectly along a seam; surgeons used it for tissue that contracted around a wound. The lip-and-kiss meaning — always implied by the physical action — settled into everyday idiom during the 20th century, when the imperative form pucker up! became a cheerful, slightly cheeky way to summon a kiss. The particle “up” adds urgency and completeness, in the same way we say buckle up, tidy up or chin up.

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LIPS DON’T LIE

Nobody teaches a baby to pucker. The first time an infant tastes something sour — lemon juice on a fingertip, say — the lips draw together instantly, the nose wrinkles, the whole face tightens. No instruction required. The body simply does it.

That reflex is far older than any language. It is a protective mechanism: sour often means unripe or spoiled, so the face contracts to signal "stop." Over millions of years, though, the same muscle group — the orbicularis oris, a ring of fibres running entirely around the mouth — got recruited for a second job: kissing. Two opposite purposes, one identical movement.

What is curious is how much information that movement carries. A child sucking on a lemon broadcasts disgust. A person puckering before a kiss broadcasts desire. A practised whistler does it to make music. A sceptical colleague does it when a new idea doesn't quite ring true. The gesture is involuntary enough to be trusted — and very difficult to fake convincingly — which is exactly why lip-reading, acting coaches, and negotiators pay close attention to it.

In business settings especially, an unrehearsed pucker at the wrong moment can give away doubt, reluctance, or the fact that a number on the table is lower than expected.

So: if you want to know what someone actually thinks about your proposal — watch their lips!

Helga & Paul Smith

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SYNONYMS

blow a kiss, bunch/press/purse one's lips, press one's lips together, pout, PUCKER

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SMUGGLE OWAD into a conversation today, say something like:

“PUCKER UP reminds us to pay as much attention to lips as to the words."

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