Chapter Kickshaws to King Estmere of K by Brewer's Phrase & Fable

Kickshaws to King Estmere

Kickshaws Made dishes, odds and ends, formerly written “kickshose.” (French, quelque chose.)

Kicksy-wicksy A horse that kicks and winces in impatience; figuratively, a wife (grey mare). Taylor, the water poet, calls it kicksie-winsie, but Shakespeare spells it kicky-wicky.

“He wears his honour in a box unseen
That hugs his kicky-wicky here at home,
Spending his manly marrow in her arms,
Which should sustain the bound and high curvet
Of Mars's fiery steed.”
All's Well that Ends Well, ii. 3 (Globe ed.).

Kid (A). A faggot or bundle of firewood. To kid is to bind up faggots. In the parish register of Kneelsal church there is the following item: “Leading kids to church, 2s. 6d.,” that is, carting faggots to church. (Welsh, cidys, faggots.)

Kid (A). A young child. A facetious formation from the Anglo-Saxon ci[l]d, a child. The l is often silent, as in calm, half, golf, etc. At one time fault was pronounced fau't.

“`Are these your own kids?” I inquired presently. `Yes, two of them: I have six, you know.”'- H. A. Beers: Century Magazine, June, 1883, p. 282.

Kidderminster Poetry Coarse doggerel verse, like the coarse woollen manufacture of Kidderminster. The term was first used by Shenstone, who applied it to a Mr. C., of Kidderminster.

“Thy verses, friend, are Kidderminster stuff;
And I must own you've measured out enough.”

Kidnapper (A). One who nabs or steals “kids” or young children.

“Swarms of kidnappers were busy in every northern town.”- J. B. McMaster: People of the United States, vol. ii. chap. x. p. 357.

Kidney Men of another kidney or of the same kidney. The reins or kidneys were even by the Jews supposed to be the seat of the affections.

Kilda (St.). The farthest of the western isles of Scotland.

Kildare (2 syl.) is the Irish Kill dara, church of the oaks.

Kildare's Holy Fane Famous for the “Fire of St. Bridget,” which was inextinguishable, because the nuns never allowed it to go out. Every twentieth night St. Bridget returned to tend the fire. Part of the chapel of St. Bridget still remains, and is called “The Fire-house.”

“A pud Kildariam occurrit ignis Sanctæ Brigidæ quem inextinguebilem vocant.”- Giraldus Cambrensis: Hibernia, ii. 34.

Kilkenny is the Gaelic Kill Kenny, church of St. Kenny or Canice.

Kilkenny Cats (See Cat Proverbs .)

Kill (A). The slaying of some animal, generally a bullock, tied up by hunters in a jungle, to allure to the spot and attract the attention of some wild beast (such as a lion, tiger, or panther) preparatory to a hunting party being arranged. As a tiger-kill, a panther-kill.

“A shikarie brought us the welcome tidings of a tiger-kill only a mile and a half from the camp. The next day there was no hunt, as the ground round the panther-kill was too unfavourable to permit of any hunting.”- Nineteenth Century, August, 1886.

Kill Two Birds with One Stone (To). To effect some subsidiary work at the same time as the main object is being effected.

Killed by Inches In allusion to divers ways of prolonging capital punishments in olden times; e.g.: (1) The “iron coffin of Lissa.” The prisoner was laid in the coffin, and saw the iron lid creep slowly down with almost imperceptible movement - slowly, silently, but surely; on, on it came with relentless march, till, after lingering days and nights in suspense, the prisoner was at last as slowly crushed by the iron lid pressing on him. (2) The “baiser de la Vierge” of Baden-Baden. The prisoner, blindfolded and fastened to a chain, was lowered by a windlass down a deep shaft from the top of the castle into the very heart of the rock on which it stands. Here he remained till he was conducted to the torture-chamber, and commanded “to kiss” the brazen statute of the “Virgin” which stood at the end of a passage; but immediately