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Coined in the mid-19th century, the noun kiss-me-quick designated a small bonnet standing far back on the head, which was then fashionable. This noun was also used attributively—as in kiss-me-quick bonnet.
These are, in chronological order, the first texts (that I have found) that specified the meaning of the noun kiss-me-quick:
1-: From Nature and Human Nature (London: Hurst and Blackett, 1855), by the Nova-Scotian author Thomas Chandler Haliburton (1796-1865) [volume 1, chapter 9: The Plural of Moose, page 287]:
The first [girl] is young and delicate, and as blooming as a little blush-rose. She holds out with each hand a portion of her silk dress, as if she was walking a minuet, and it discloses a snow white petticoat, and such a dear little foot and ankle—lick! Her step is short and mincing. She has a new bonnet on, just imported by the last English steamer. It has a horrid name, it is called a kiss-me-quick. It is so far back on her head, she is afraid people will think she is bare-faced, so she casts her eyes down, as much as to say, “Don’t look at me, please, I am so pretty I am afraid you will stare, and if you do I shall faint, as sure as the world, and if you want to look at my bonnet, do pray go behind me, for what there is of it, is all there. It’s a great trial to me to walk alone, when I am so pretty.”
2-: From Cries from the Past, published in Household Words. A Weekly Journal. Conducted by Charles Dickens (London, England) of Saturday 28th July 1855 [page 607, column 1]:
My cries range over a space of some twenty years (I only quote those that are within my own recollection), yet many of them are obsolete now. They have had their day, like dogs, and have died. Each year has produced its new cry simultaneously with its new bonnet. I can no more trace the exact chronological succession of cries than I can set down (without reference to the Mode and the Belle Assemblée), the rigorous scale of descent from the monster-brimmed bonnet with all its bows, feathers, and streamers of William the Fourth’s time, to the incomprehensible mockery delusion and snare of gauze, ribbons and artificial flowers, that ladies are now wearing in a mid region between their back hair and their cervical vertebræ. This last thing is called and charged for in milliners’ bills as a bonnet. The vulgar have other names for it, such as “kiss-me-quick!” “fly-by-night!” “fantail!” and the like. Studying it philosophically, myself, I am inclined to regard it as a species of feminine porter’s knot.
3-: From The Vulgar Tongue: A Glossary of Slang, Cant, and Flash Words and Phrases, used in London from 1839 to 1859 (London: Bernard Quaritch, 1859), by ‘Ducange Anglicus’ [page 19]—Gen. stands for General (i.e., General Use):
KISS ME QUICK, n. Name given to the very small bonnets worn by females during the year 1850, and for a short time after. Gen.
4-: From the second edition of Dictionary of Americanisms. A glossary of words and phrases usually regarded as peculiar to the United States (Boston (Massachusetts): Little, Brown and Company, 1859), by the U.S. historian and linguist John Russell Bartlett (1805-1886) [page 230]:
Kiss-me-Quick. A home-made, quilted bonnet which does not extend beyond the face. They are chiefly used to cover the head by ladies when going to parties or to the theatre.
“She holds out with each hand a portion of her silk dress, as if she was walking a minuet, and it discloses a snow white petticoat. Her step is short and mincing, and she wears a new bonnet called a kiss-me-quick.—Sam Slick, Human Nature, p. 131.”
In the fourth edition (Boston (Massachusetts): Little, Brown and Company, 1877) of Dictionary of Americanisms, John Russell Bartlett added the following to the original definition of kiss-me-quick [page 336]:
Noted as in general use in England, by Ducange Anglicus, for small bonnets worn during the year 1851 [sic], and for a short time after.
These are, in chronological order, the earliest occurrences that I have found of the noun kiss-me-quick:
—Two notes: a) None of these texts specified the meaning of the noun kiss-me-quick (cf., below, the remark in the quotation from The Daily Picayune of 12th March 1843). b) Occasionally, this noun also occurred in the extended form kiss-me-quick, mother’s coming:
1-: From the New England Farmer, and Horticultural Register (Boston, Massachusetts, USA) of Wednesday 4th January 1843 [page 216, column 2]:
A new-fashioned bonnet, just introduced, goes by the name of “Kiss-me-quick.” The only flowers worn on them, we suppose, are two-lips.—Philadel. Spirit of the Times.
2-: From The Fredonia Censor (Fredonia, New York, USA) of Wednesday 25th January 1843 [page 4, column 1]:
“Kiss Me Quick!” is the name of a new-fashioned bonnet worn by the ladies, somewhere, and invented by somebody. The gentlemen find them very convenient, and the ladies exceedingly pleasant. The demand for them is becoming very great.
3-: From the Bangor Daily Whig & Courier (Bangor, Maine, USA) of Saturday 4th March 1843 [page 2, column 4]:
A Laughable Scene.
On Saturday morning several young ladies made their appearance in one of our markets with “Kiss-me-quick-mother’s coming” bonnets on their heads, and some of the butchers indulged in a little sport at the expense of these votaries of the top of the fashion. “Kiss me quick! kiss me quick!” escaped the lips of the butchers, and as it fell upon the ears of the young ladies, a blush of deep crimson mantled their cheeks. The efforts of these waggish butchers were vain, the ladies ran, hiding their bonnets beneath their cloaks, amidst the derision of the spectators, and at the same time made a considerable show of bustle.—Philadelphia Sentinel.
4-: From The Daily Picayune (New Orleans, Louisiana, USA) of Sunday 12th March 1843 [page 2, column 4]:
Butchers and Beauties.—“Kiss-me-quick, Mother’s Coming.”—The Philadelphia Sentinel notes the appearance in the market at that place of several young ladies with the “Kiss-me-quick, mother’s coming” bonnets upon their heads. Now as neither history nor the Philadelphia Sentinel make mention as to what particular style of bonnet this is, we cannot give a description of it to our readers; but we are led to believe that there is something peculiarly funny and outre about it, inasmuch as the editor aforesaid says that the butchers indulged not a little in sport at the votaries of the new top of the fashion. The young butchers exclaimed, as the beauties passed their stalls, “Kiss me quick! kiss me quick!” which winning request, as it fell upon the ears of the young ladies, caused a deep blush of crimson to mantle their cheeks and induced them to lift up their feet and scamper off as fast as they could run. Many of them hid their bonnets under their cloaks as they “skeeted,” amidst not a little derision from the surrounding spectators; all which circumstances irresistibly lead us to the conviction that the “Kiss-me-quicks” are not destined to have a very successful run in Philadelphia, albeit their fair wearers run well with them.
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