Definition of osculant

• a. - Kissing; hence, meeting; clinging.
• a. - Adhering closely; embracing; -- applied to certain creeping animals, as caterpillars.
• a. - Intermediate in character, or on the border, between two genera, groups, families, etc., of animals or plants, and partaking somewhat of the characters of each, thus forming a connecting link; interosculant; as, the genera by which two families approximate are called osculant genera.