Kitchener, subs. (thieves’).—A thief frequenting a thieves’ kitchen
(q.v.).
Kitchenite, subs. (printers’).—A loafing compositor frequenting the
kitchen of the Compositors’ Society house: in contempt.
Kitchen-latin, subs. (common).—Barbarous or sham Latin; dog-latin
(q.v.).
Kitchen-physic, subs. (old).—1. Pot-herbs; and (2) victuals.
1592. Greene, Quip for Upstart Courtier [Harl. Misc. v. 406]. For
my selfe, if I be ill at ease, I take kitchyn physicke; I make my
wife my doctor, and my garden my apothecaries shop.
1641. Milton, Def. Humb. Remonst., § 2. Nothing will cure this
man’s understanding but some familiar and kitchen physick.... Call
hither your cook!
1785. Grose, Vulg. Tongue, s.v. A little kitchen-physic will set
him up; he has more need of a cook than a doctor.
1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.
Kitchen-stuff, subs. (old).—A female servant.
1658. Brome, New Academy, p. 44. What a bold piece of kitchen-stuff
is this that you have married!
Kite, subs. (popular).—1. A fool; a sharper; a cruel and rapacious
wretch. Fr. un buse. For synonyms see Buffle and Cabbage-head.
1534. Udall, Roister Doister, v. 5. Roister Doister, that doughtie
kite.
1605. Shakspeare, King Lear, i. 4. Detested kite! thou liest.
1639. Fletcher, Wit without Money, i. 1. Cramming of serving-men,
mustering of beggars, Maintaining hospitals for kites and Curs.
1812. From an old Dublin Jester. [The story, however, with slight
variations is told of other judges. See N. and Q., 6 S., ix. 326,
394]. In a case before the Lord Chancellor of Ireland Mr. Curran,
on behalf of the suitor, prayed to be relieved from the payment of
some bills for which he had not received consideration, but only
lent his name as an accommodation. Mr. Curran, in the course of his
pleadings, mentioned the terms kite and raising the wind several
times, when his lordship requested to know the meaning of the
words. ‘My lord’, Mr. Curran replied, ‘in your country (meaning
England) the wind generally raises the kite, but with us,’
significantly looking at the gentlemen of the bar, ‘the kite raises
the wind.’
2. (commercial).—An accommodation bill; fictitious commercial paper;
(in Scotland) a windmill-bill (q.v.). See Kite-flying. To fly a kite =
to raise money or keep up credit by the aforesaid means.
1817. Edgeworth, Love and Law, i. 2. Here’s bills plenty—long bills
and short bills—but even the kites, which I can fly as well as any
man, won’t raise the money for me now.
1823. Bee, Dict. of the Turf, s.v. Kite-flying. In Ireland flying
the kite is employed to describe raising the wind.
1837. Barham, Ingoldsby Legends (M. of Venice). In English
Exchequer-bills full half a million, Not kites, manufactured to
cheat and inveigle, But the right sort of ‘flimsy.’
1848. Punch, xiv. 226. He never does a little discounting, nor
lends his hand to flying a kite.
1849. Perils of Pearl Street, 82. Flying the kite is rather a
perilous adventure.
1880. Sims, Ballads of Babylon, ‘Little Worries.’ You have a kite
you cannot fly, and creditors are pressing.
1883. Grenville-Murray, People I Have Met, p. 158. His wife, one of
the better of the best society, had flown kites to the height of
twenty-five thousand pounds.
1891. Licensed Victuallers’ Gazette, 23 Jan. ... has been, flying
kites and getting into trouble thereby.