K
K — KIDDLE
K, the eleventh letter of the English Alphabet, is borrowed from the Greeks, being the same character as the Greek kappa, answering to the oriental kaph. It represents a close articulation, formed by pressing the root of the tongue against the upper part of the mouth, with a depression of the lower jaw and opening of the teeth. It is usually denominated a guttural, but is more properly a palatal. Before all the vowels, it has one invariable sound, corresponding with that of c, before a, o, and u, as in keel, ken. In monosyllables, it is used after c, as in crack, check, deck, being necessary to exhibit a correct pronunciation in the derivatives, cracked, checked, decked, cracking, for without it, c, before the vowels e and i, would be sounded like s.
Formerly, k was added to c, in certain words of Latin origin, as in musick, publick, republick. But in modern practice, k is very properly omitted, being entirely superfluous, and the more properly, as it is never written in the derivatives, musical, publication, republican. It is retained in traffick, as in monosyllables, on account of the pronunciation of the derivatives, trafficked, trafficking.NWAD K.2
K is silent before n, as in know, knife, knee. As a numeral, K stands for 250; and with a stroke over it, for 250,000. This character was not used by the ancient Romans, and rarely in the later ages of their empire. In the place of k, they used c, as in clino, for Greek. In the Teutonic dialects, this Greek letter is sometimes represented by h. [See H.]
KAALING, n. A bird, a species of starling, found in China.
KABBOS, n. A fish of a brown color, without scales.
KALE, n. [L. caulis.] Sea-cale, an esculent plant of the genus Crambe.
KALENDAR, n. [See Calendar.]
KALI, n. A plant, a species of Salsola, or glass-wort, the ashes of which are used in making glass. Hence alkali, which see.
KALIF, n. [See Calif.]
KALIFATE, [See Califate.]
KALMIA, n. The name of a genus of evergreen shrubs, natives of N. America, called laurel, ivy-bush, calico-bush, etc.
KAM, a. Crooked. [Not used.]
KAN, KAUN, KHAN, n. In Persia, an officer answering to a governor in Europe or America. Among the Tartars, a chief or prince. [See Khan.]
KANGAROO, n. A singular animal found in New Holland, resembling in some respects the opossum. It belongs to the genus Didelphis. It has a small head, neck and shoulders, the body increasing in thickness to the rump. The fore legs are very short, useless in walking, but used for digging or bringing food to the mouth. The hind legs, which are long, are used in moving, particularly in leaping.
KAOLIN, n. A species of earth or variety of clay, used as one of the two ingredients in the oriental porcelain. The other ingredient is called in China petunse. Its color is white, with a shade of gray, yellow or red.
KARAGANE, n. A species of gray fox found in the Russian empire.
KARPHOLITE, n. [Gr. straw, and a stone.]
A mineral recently discovered. It has a fibrous structure and a yellow color.NWAD KARPHOLITE.2
KATA, n. In syria, a fowl of the grous kind.
KAW, v.i. [from the sound.] To cry as a raven, crow or rook.
KAW, n. The cry of the rave, crow or rook.
KAWN, n. In Turkey, a public inn.
1. A nine-pin, a kettle-pin; sometimes written keel.NWAD KAYLE.2
2. A kind of play in Scotland, in which nine holes ranged in threes, are made in the ground, and an iron ball rolled in among them.NWAD KAYLE.3
KECK, v.i. To heave the stomach; to reach, as in an effort to vomit. [Little used.]
KECK, n. A reaching or heaving of the stomach.
KECKLE, v.t. To wind old rope round a cable to preserve its surface from being fretted, or to wind iron chains round a cable to defend it from the friction of a rocky bottom, or from the ice.
KECKSY, n. [L. cicuta.] Hemlock; a hollow jointed plant. [Not used in America.]
KECKY, a. Resembling a kex.
1. An Indian scepter.NWAD KECKY.2
KEDGE, n. [allied probably to cag and keg.] A small anchor, used to keep a ship steady when riding in a harbor or river, and particularly at the turn of the tide, to keep her clear of her bower anchor, also to remove her from one part of a harbor to another, being carried out in a boat and let go, as in warping or kedging. [Sometimes written kedger.]
KEDGE, v.t. To warp, as a ship; to move by means of a kedge, as in a river.
KEDLACK, n. A weed that grows among wheat and rye; charlock. [I believe not used in America.]
KEE, plu. of cow. [Local in England and not used in America.]
KEECH, n. A mass or lump. [Not in use.]
1. The principal timber in a ship, extending from stem to stern at the bottom, and supporting the whole frame.NWAD KEEL.2
2. A low flat-bottomed vessel, used in the river Tyne, to convey coals from Newcastle for loading the colliers.NWAD KEEL.3
3. In botany, the lower petal of a papilionaceous corol, inclosing the stamens and pistil.NWAD KEEL.4
False keel, a strong thick piece of timber, bolted to the bottom of the keel, to preserve it from injury.NWAD KEEL.5
On an even keel, in a level or horizontal position.NWAD KEEL.6
KEEL, v.t. To cool.
KEEL, v.t. To plow with a keel; to navigate.
1. To turn up the keel; to show the bottom.NWAD KEEL.9
To keel the pot, in Ireland, to scum it.NWAD KEEL.10
KEELAGE, n. Duty paid for a ship entering Hartlepool, Eng.
KEELED, a. In botany, carinated; having a longitudinal prominence on the back; as a keeled leaf, calyx or nectary.
KEELFAT, n. A cooler; a vessel in which liquor is set for cooling. [Not used.]
KEELHAUL, v.t. To haul under the keel of a ship. Keelhauling is a punishment inflicted in the Dutch navy for certain offenses. The offender is suspended by a rope from one yard arm, with weights on his legs, and a rope fastened to him, leading under the ship’s bottom to the opposite yard arm, and being let fall into the water, he is drawn under the ship’s bottom and raised on the other side.
KEELING, n. A kind of small cod, of which stock fish is made.
KEELSON, n. kel’son. A piece of timber in a ship, laid on the middle of the floor timbers over the keel, fastened with long bolts and clinched, and thus binding the floor timbers to the keel.
1. Eager; vehement; as hungry curs too keen at the sport.NWAD KEEN.2
The sheep were so keen on the acorns--NWAD KEEN.3
2. Eager; sharp; as a keen appetite.NWAD KEEN.4
3. Sharp; having a very fine edge; as a keen razor, or a razor with a keen edge. We say a keen edge, but a sharp point.NWAD KEEN.5
4. Piercing; penetrating; severe; applied to cold or to wind; as a keen wind; the cold is very keen.NWAD KEEN.6
5. Bitter; piercing; acrimonious; as keen satire or sarcasm.NWAD KEEN.7
Good father cardinal, cry thou amen,NWAD KEEN.8
To my keen curses.NWAD KEEN.9
KEEN, v.t. To sharpen. [Unusual.]
KEENLY, adv. Eagerly; vehemently.
1. Sharply; severely; bitterly.NWAD KEENLY.2
KEENNESS, n. Eagerness; vehemence; as the keenness of hunger.
1. Sharpness; fineness of edge; as the keenness of a razor.NWAD KEENNESS.2
2. The quality of piercing; rigor; sharpness; as the keenness of the air or of cold.NWAD KEENNESS.3
3. Asperity; acrimony; bitterness; as the keenness of satire, invective or sarcasm.NWAD KEENNESS.4
4. Acuteness; sharpness; as the keenness of wit.NWAD KEENNESS.5
KEEP, v.t. pret. and pp. kept. [L. habeo, and capio.]
1. To hold; to retain in one’s power or possession; not to lose or part with; as, to keep a house or a farm; to keep any thing in the memory, mind or heart.NWAD KEEP.2
2. To have in custody for security or preservation.NWAD KEEP.3
The crown of Stephanus, first king of Hungary, was always kept in the castle of Vicegrade.NWAD KEEP.4
3. To preserve; to retain.NWAD KEEP.5
The Lord God, merciful and gracious, keeping mercy for thousands-- Exodus 34:6, 7.NWAD KEEP.6
4. To preserve from falling or from danger; to protect; to guard or sustain.NWAD KEEP.7
And behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee. Genesis 28:15; Luke 4:10.NWAD KEEP.8
5. To hold or restrain from departure; to detain.NWAD KEEP.9
--That I may know what keeps me here with you.NWAD KEEP.10
6. To tend; to have the care of.NWAD KEEP.11
And the Lord God took the man and put him in the garden of Eden, to dress it and to keep it. Genesis 2:15.NWAD KEEP.12
7. To tend; to feed; to pasture; as, to keep a flock of sheep or a herd of cattle in a yard or in a field. He keeps his horses on oats or on hay.NWAD KEEP.13
8. To preserve in any tenor or state. Keep a stiff rein.NWAD KEEP.14
Keep the constitution sound.NWAD KEEP.15
9. To regard; to attend to.NWAD KEEP.16
While the stars and course of heaven I keep--NWAD KEEP.17
10. To hold in any state; as, to keep in order.NWAD KEEP.18
11. To continue any state, course or action; as, to keep silence; to keep the same road or the same pace; to keep reading or talking; to keep a given distance.NWAD KEEP.19
12. To practice; to do or perform; to obey; to observe in practice; not to neglect or violate; as, to keep the laws, statutes or commandments of God.NWAD KEEP.20
13. To fulfill; to perform; as, to keep one’s word, promise or covenant.NWAD KEEP.21
14. To practice; to use habitually; as, to keep bad hours.NWAD KEEP.22
15. To copy carefully.NWAD KEEP.23
Her servant’s eyes were fix’d upon her face,NWAD KEEP.24
And as she moved or turned, her motions viewed,NWAD KEEP.25
Her measures kept, and step by step pursued.NWAD KEEP.26
16. To observe or solemnize.NWAD KEEP.27
17. To board; to maintain; to supply with necessaries of life. The men are kept at a moderate price per week.NWAD KEEP.28
18. To have in the house; to entertain; as, to keep lodgers.NWAD KEEP.29
19. To maintain; not to intermit; as, to keep watch or guard.NWAD KEEP.30
20. To hold in one’s own bosom; to confine to one’s own knowledge; not to disclose or communicate to others; not to betray; as, to keep a secret; to keep one’s own counsel.NWAD KEEP.31
21. To have in pay; as, to keep a servant.NWAD KEEP.32
To keep back, to reserve; to withhold; not to disclose or communicate.NWAD KEEP.33
I will keep nothing back from you. Jeremiah 42:4.NWAD KEEP.34
1. To restrain;; to prevent from advancing.NWAD KEEP.35
Keep back thy servant also from presumptuous sins. Psalm 19:13.NWAD KEEP.36
2. To reserve; to withhold; not to deliver. Acts 5:3.NWAD KEEP.37
To keep company with, to frequent the society of; to associate with. Let youth keep company with the wise and good.NWAD KEEP.38
To accompany; to go with; as, to keep company with one on a journey or voyage.NWAD KEEP.39
To keep down, to prevent from rising; not to lift or suffer to be raised.NWAD KEEP.40
To keep in, to prevent from escape; to hold in confinement.NWAD KEEP.41
1. To conceal; not to tell or disclose.NWAD KEEP.42
2. To restrain; to curb.NWAD KEEP.43
To keep off, to hinder from approach or attack; as, to keep off an enemy or an evil.NWAD KEEP.44
To keep under, to restrain; to hold in subjection; as, to keep under an antagonist or a conquered country; to keep under the appetites and passions.NWAD KEEP.45
To keep up, to maintain; to prevent from falling or diminution; as, to keep up the price of goods; to keep up one’s credit.NWAD KEEP.46
1. To maintain; to continue; to hinder from ceasing.NWAD KEEP.47
In joy, that which keeps up the action is the desire to continue it.NWAD KEEP.48
To keep out, to hinder from entering or taking possession.NWAD KEEP.49
To keep bed, to remain in bed without rising; to be confined to one’s bed.NWAD KEEP.50
To keep house, to maintain a family state.NWAD KEEP.51
His income enables him to keep house.NWAD KEEP.52
1. To remain in the house; to be confined.NWAD KEEP.53
His feeble health obliges him to keep house.NWAD KEEP.54
To keep from, to restrain; to prevent approach.NWAD KEEP.55
To keep a school, to maintain or support it; as, the town or its inhabitants keep ten schools; more properly, to govern and instruct or teach a school, as a preceptor.NWAD KEEP.56
KEEP, v.i. To remain in any state; as, to keep at a distance; to keep aloft; to keep near; to keep in the house; to keep before or behind; to keep in favor; to keep out of company, or out of reach.
1. To last; to endure; not to perish or be impaired. Seek for winter’s use apples that will keep.NWAD KEEP.58
If the malt is not thoroughly dried, the ale it makes will not keep.NWAD KEEP.59
2. To lodge; to dwell; to reside for a time.NWAD KEEP.60
Knock at the study, where, they say, he keeps.NWAD KEEP.61
To keep to, to adhere strictly; not to neglect or deviate from; as, to keep to old customs; to keep to a rule; to keep to one’s word or promise.NWAD KEEP.62
To keep on, to go forward; to proceed; to continue to advance.NWAD KEEP.63
To keep up, to remain unsubdued; or not to be confined to one’s bed.NWAD KEEP.64
In popular language, this word signifies to continue; to repeat continually; not to cease.NWAD KEEP.65
KEEP, n. Custody; guard. [Little used.]
1. Colloquially, case; condition; as in good keep.NWAD KEEP.67
2. Guardianship; restraint. [Little used.]NWAD KEEP.68
3. A place of confinement; in old castles, the dungeon.NWAD KEEP.69
KEEPER, n. One who keeps; one that holds or has possession of any thing.
1. One who retains in custody; one who has the care of a prison and the custody of prisoners.NWAD KEEPER.2
2. One who has the care of a park or other inclosure, or the custody of beasts; as the keeper of a park, a pound, or of sheep.NWAD KEEPER.3
3. One who has the care, custody or superintendence of any thing.NWAD KEEPER.4
In Great Britain, the keeper of the great seal, is a lord by his office, and one of the privy council. All royal grants, commissions and charters pass through his hands. He is constituted lord-keeper by the delivery of the great seal. The keeper of the privy seal is also a lord by his office, and a member of the privy council.NWAD KEEPER.5
KEEPERSHIP, n. The office of a keeper. [Little used.]
KEEPING, ppr. Holding; restraining; preserving; guarding; protecting; performing.
KEEPING, n. A holding; restraint; custody; guard; preservation.
1. Feed; fodder. The cattle have good keeping.NWAD KEEPING.3
2. In painting, a representation of objects in the manner they appear to the eye at different distance from it.NWAD KEEPING.4
KEEPSAKE, n. Any thing kept, or given to be kept for the sake of the giver; a token of friendship.
KEFFEKIL, n. A stone, white or yellow, which hardens in the fire, and of which Turkey pipes are made.
KEG, n. A small cask or barrel; written more correctly cag.
KELL, n. A sort of pottage. [Not used in America.]
KELL, n. The caul or omentum. [See Caul, the usual orthography of the word.]
1. The chrysalis of the caterpillar.NWAD KELL.3
KELP, n. The calcined ashes of sea weed, used in the manufacture of glass. This is a dark color alkaline substance, which, in a furnace, vitrifies and becomes transparent.
KELPY, n. An imaginary spirit of the waters, in the form of a horse. [Local and vulgar.]
KELSON. [See Keelson.]
KELTER, n. The phrase, he is not in kelter, signifies, he is not in a proper dress or equipage, or not in readiness.
KEMB, v.t. To comb, which see. Kemb is an obsolete orthography.
KEMELIN, n. A tub; a brewer’s vessel. [Not in use.]
KEN, v.t. [L. canus, white, caneo, to be white, and this with L. cano, to sing, canto, Eng. to cant, to chant; L. gigno.]
1. To see at a distance; to descry.NWAD KEN.2
We ken them from afar.NWAD KEN.3
2. To know; to understand. [This verb is used chiefly in poetry.]NWAD KEN.4
KEN, v.i. To look round.
KEN, n. View; reach of sight.
Coasting they kept the land within their ken.NWAD KEN.7
KENDAL-GREEN, n. A species of green cloth made of kendal.
KENNEL, n. [L. canis, a dog.]
1. A house or cot for dogs, or for a pack of hounds.NWAD KENNEL.2
2. A pack of hounds or their cry.NWAD KENNEL.3
3. The hole of a fox or other beast; a haunt.NWAD KENNEL.4
KENNEL, n. [Eng. channel.]
1. The water-course of a street; a little canal or channel.NWAD KENNEL.6
2. A puddle.NWAD KENNEL.7
KENNEL, v.i. To lodge; to lie; to dwell; as a dog or a fox.
The dog kenneled in a hollow tree.NWAD KENNEL.9
KENNEL, v.t. To keep or confine in a kennel.
KENNING, n. View, sight.
KENTLE, n. [L. centum.] In commerce, a hundred pounds in weight; as a kentle of fish. [It is written and pronounced also quintal.]
KENTLEDGE, n. In seamen’s language, pigs of iron for ballast laid on the floor of a ship.
KEPT, pret. and pp. of keep.
KERCHIEF, n. [contracted from coverchief.]
1. A head dress; a cloth to cover the head.NWAD KERCHIEF.2
2. A cloth used in dress.NWAD KERCHIEF.3
The word is now seldom used, except in its compound, handkerchief, and sometimes neckerchief.NWAD KERCHIEF.4
KERF, n. [Eng. to carve.] The cut of an ax, a saw, or other instrument; the notch or slit made in wood by cutting.
KERMES, n. In zoology, an insect produced in the excrescences of a species of small oak, or the body of an insect transformed into a grain, berry, or husk. This body is full of reddish juice, which is used in dyeing red. Hence the word crimson.
KERMES-MINERAL, n. A mineral substance, so called from its color. It is a precipitate of antimony, obtained by fusion with a fixed alkali and subsequent solution in boiling water, or by simple ebullition.
KERN, n. An Irish footman or foot-soldier.
1. In English laws, an idle person or vagabond.NWAD KERN.2
KERN, n. A hand-mill consisting of two stones, one of which is turned by the hand; usually written quern, which see.
1. A churn.NWAD KERN.4
KERN, v.i.
1. To harden, as corn in ripening.NWAD KERN.6
2. To take the form of corns; to granulate.NWAD KERN.7
KERN-BABY, n. [corn-baby.] An image dressed with corn, and carried before reapers to their harvest-home.
1. The edible substance contained in the shell of a nut.NWAD KERNEL.2
2. Any thing included in a shell, husk or integument; a grain or corn; as a kernel of wheat or oats.NWAD KERNEL.3
3. The seed of pulpy fruit; as the kernel of an apple.NWAD KERNEL.4
4. The central part of any thing; a small mass around which other matter is concreted; a nucleus.NWAD KERNEL.5
5. A hard concretion in the flesh.NWAD KERNEL.6
KERNEL, v.i. To harden or ripen into kernels; as the seeds of plants.
KERNELLY, a. Full of kernels; resembling kernels.
KERSEY, n. A species of coarse woolen cloth; a coarse stuff made chiefly in Kent and Devonshire in England.
KERVE, v.t. To carve. [Not used.]
KERVER, n. A carver. [Not used.]
KESAR, n. [from Caesar.] An emperor.
KESTREL, CASTREL, n. A fowl of the genus Falco, or hawk kind; called also stannel and windhover. It builds in hollow oaks, and feeds on quails and other small birds.
KETCH, n. A vessel with two masts, a main and mizen-mast, usually from 100 to 250 tones burden. Ketches are generally used as yachts or as bomb-vessels. The latter are called bomb-ketches.
KETCHUP, n. A sauce. [See Catchup.]
KETTLE, n. A vessel of iron or other metal, with a wide mouth, usually without a cover, used for heating and boiling water or other liquor.
Among the Tartars, a kettle represents a family, or as many as feed from one kettle.NWAD KETTLE.2
Among the Dutch, a battery of mortars sunk in the earth, is called a kettle.NWAD KETTLE.3
KETTLE-DRUM, n. An instrument of martial music, composed of two basins of copper or brass, rounded at the bottom and covered with vellum or goat-skin.
KETTLE-DRUMMER, n. The man who beats the kettle-drum.
KETTLE-PINS, n. Nine pins; skittles.
KEVEL, n. In ships, a piece of timber serving to belay the sheets or great ropes by which the bottoms of the fore-sail and main-sail are extended.
KEX, n. Hemlock; the stem of the teasel; a dry stalk. [See Kecksy.]
KEY, n. ke. In a general sense, a fastener; that which fastens; as a piece of wood in the frame of a building, or in a chain, etc.
1. An instrument for shutting or opening a lock, by pushing the bolt one way or the other. Keys are of various forms, and fitted to the wards of the locks to which they belong.NWAD KEY.2
2. An instrument by which something is screwed or turned; as the key of a watch or other chronometer.NWAD KEY.3
3. The stone which binds an arch. [See Key-stone.]NWAD KEY.4
4. In an organ or harpsichord, the key, or finger key is a little lever or piece in the fore part by which the instrument is played on by the fingers.NWAD KEY.5
5. In music, the key, or key note, is the fundamental note or tone, to which the whole piece is accommodated, and with which it usually begins and always ends. There are two keys, one of the major, and one of the minor mode. Key sometimes signifies a scale or system of intervals.NWAD KEY.6
6. An index, or that which serves to explain a cypher. Hence,NWAD KEY.7
7. That which serves to explain any thing difficult to be understood.NWAD KEY.8
8. In the Romish church, ecclesiastical jurisdiction, or the power of the pope, or the power of excommunicating or absolving.NWAD KEY.9
9. A ledge or lay of ricks near the surface of the water.NWAD KEY.10
10. The husk containing the seed of an ash.NWAD KEY.11
KEY, n. A bank or wharf built on the side of a river or harbor, for the convenience of loading and unloading ships, and securing them in their stations. Hence keys are furnished with posts, rings, cranes, capstans, etc. It is sometimes written quay.
KEYAGE, n. Money paid for the use of a key or quay.
KEY-COLD, a. Lifeless. [Not in use.]
KEYED, a. Furnished with keys; as a keyed instrument.
1. Set to a key, as a tune.NWAD KEYED.2
KEYHOLE, n. A hole or aperture in a door or lock, for receiving a key.
KEYSTONE, n. The stone on the top or middle of an arch or vault, which being wider at the top than at the bottom, enters like a wedge and binds the work; properly, the fastening-stone.
KHAN, n. kaun. In Asia, a governor; a king; a prince; a chief. In Persia, the word denotes the governor of a province; among the Tartars, it is equivalent to king or prince.
1. An inn.NWAD KHAN.2
KHANATE, n. kaun’ate. The dominion or jurisdiction of a khan.
KIBE, n. [This word has the elements of chap, gap, gape.]
A chap or crack in the flesh occasioned by cold; an ulcerated chilblain; as in the heels.NWAD KIBE.2
KIBED, a. Chapped; cracked with cold; affected with chilblains; as kibed heels.
KIBY, a. Affected with kibes.
KICK, v.t. To strike with the foot; as, a horse kicks a servant; a man kicks a dog.
KICK, v.i. To practice striking with the foot or feet; as a horse accustomed to kick.
1. To thrust out the foot or feet with violence, either in wantonness, resistance, anger or contempt; to manifest opposition.NWAD KICK.3
Wherefore kick ye at my sacrifice? 1 Samuel 2:29.NWAD KICK.4
Jeshurun waxed fat and kicked. Deuteronomy 32:15.NWAD KICK.5
It is hard for thee to kick against the goads. Acts 9:5.NWAD KICK.6
KICK, n. A blow with the foot or feet; a striking or thrust of the foot.
KICKED, pp. Struck with the foot or feet.
KICKER, n. One that kicks.
KICKING, ppr. Striking with the foot; thrusting out the foot with violence.
KICKING, n. The act of striking with the foot, or of yerking the foot with violence. What cannot be effected by kicking, may sometimes be done by coaxing.
1. Something fantastical or uncommon, or something that has no particular name.NWAD KICKSHAW.2
2. A dish so changed by cooking, that it can scarcely be known.NWAD KICKSHAW.3
KICKSHOE, n. A dancer, in contempt; a caperer; a buffoon. [A word used only by Milton.]
KID, n. [L. hoedus; vulgar.]
1. A young goat.NWAD KID.2
2. A faggot; a bundle of heath and furze.NWAD KID.3
KID, v.t. or i. To bring forth a young goat.
1. To make into a bundle, as faggots.NWAD KID.5
KID, v.t. To show, discover or make known.
KIDDER, n. An engrosser of corn, or one who carries corn, provisions and merchandize about the country for sale.
KIDDLE, n. A kind of wear in a river for catching fish; corruptly pronounced kittle.