Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (Aus./US) to caress amorously, to kiss.

[1631		T. Heywood Faire Maid of West Pt I V i: Must your black face be smooching my Mistresses white lips with a Moorian. I would have you kiss her a---].
[1850		Life in Boston & N.Y. (Boston, MA) 18 May n.p.: Mr Pompey Smootch [...] although a blackamore, is tired of black amours and solicits the attention of any white lady who’ &c].
1915		C.J. Dennis Songs of a Sentimental Bloke 39: An’ there they smooge a treat, wiv pretty words / Like two love-birds.
1932		J.L. Kuethe ‘Johns Hopkins Jargon’ in AS VII:5 336: smooch—v .—to kiss.
1938		Dly Atheneum in McGill Dly 19 Dec. 4: Hugging and kissing [...] Lollygagging, necking, pitching honey, smooching, tonsil swabbing, pawing, muzzling, flinging woo and rotten logging are other names applied to the same activity.
1948		J. Archibald ‘Klump a la Carte’ Popular Det. July 🌐 He went over to the cage to slyly smooch with the taker of the tariff.
1953		T.A.G. Hungerford Riverslake 86: I’ve got to smooch the old man.
1958		R. Chandler Playback 47: Fifteen other guys have been smooching your girl.
1966		P. Willmott Adolescent Boys of East London (1969) 50: I was tired out and fell asleep while we were smooching on the bed-settee.
1974		(con. 1960s) R. Price Wanderers 125: Richie and C smooched it up in a corner.
1979		Lette & Carey Puberty Blues 38: Within an hour all the couples would be snuggled up and smooching.
1986		Eble Campus Sl. Mar.
1991		(con. 1920s) O.D. Brooks Legs 201: We smooched for twenty minutes.
1991		B. Hamper Rivethead (1992) 80: He was shocked to spot the cashier queen [...] smoochin’ and gropin’ all over this Surfer Joe look-alike.
1992		Age (Melbourne) 11 May 37/5: I want to go to a French film and smooch in the back row with a boy. Then i want to go to a bar [...] with the boy and talk about smooching.
2005		B. Hare Urban Grimshaw 223: He spent his time [...] smooching with Natasha.
2010		(con. 1973) C. Stella Johnny Porno 185: We’ll have to smooch tomorrow.

2. to sing in a mawkish, sentimental way; thus smoochy adj.

1981		J. Sullivan ‘Christmas Crackers’ Only Fools and Horses [TV script] As we join the scene, couples are locked in embrace on the dance floor as a smoochy song ends.
1999		Observer Rev. 4 July 6: Elvis and Burt smooching through ‘I’ll Never Fall In Love Again’.