1719. Durfey, Pills to Purge etc., iii. 221. The tinker too with
Mettle, Said he would mend her Kettle, And stop up every Leak.
Ibid. iv. 62. He never clencheth home a Nail, But his Trull holds
up the Kettle.
Pot calling the kettle black, phr. (common).—On ‘all fours’; ‘Six of
one and half a dozen of the other.’
1890. Tit Bits, 30 Aug. p. 332, col. 1. It was almost a case of the
pot calling the kettle black, certainly; but the rebuke lost none
of its point, nevertheless.
A pretty (or fine) kettle (or kiddle = basket) of fish, subs. phr.
(common).—A mess or confusion of any kind; a muddle.
1750. Fielding, Tom Jones, vi. x. ‘There is a fine kettle of fish
made o’t up at our house!’ ‘What can be the matter, Mr. Western?’
said Allworthy.
1811. Lex. Bal., s.v. Kettle-of-fish. When a person has perplexed
his affairs in general, or any particular business, he is said to
have made a fine kettle of fish of it.
1835. C. Selby, Catching an Heiress, ii. La, miss, you must be
joking; you can’t be what you ayn’t, you’d be sure to be found out,
and then there’d be a pretty kettle of fish.
1849. Dickens, David Copperfield, xix. I intend, Trotwood, to get
that done immediately ... and then—there’ll be a pretty kettle of
fish!
1864. Tangled Talk, p. 337. It is an easy thing ... to make a
kettle of fish of one’s whole existence.
Kettledrum, subs. (old).—1. In plural = a woman’s breasts. Also Cupid’s
kettledrum.
1785. Grose, Vulgar Tongue, s.v.