▪ I. ked, kade, n.1
(kɛd, keɪd)
Also 6 cade, 7 (? kidde), kaid, 8–9 kead.
[Of unknown derivation; the phonology points to cāde as the etymological form; this would give north.Eng. and south.Sc. keäd, keäde, which, on the analogy of heäd head, would be anglicized as kead, ked (kɛd).]
A sheep-tick or sheep-louse (Melophagus ovinus).
| 1570 Levins Manip. 8 A cade, sheepe louse. a 1605 Montgomerie Flyting w. Polwart 492 Some, luikand lyce, in the crowne of it keeks; Some choppes the kiddes into their cheeks. 1653 W. Lawson Comm. Secr. Angling in Arb. Garner I. 196, I rather think the kades and other filth that fall from sheep do so glut the fish that they will not take any artificial bait. 1697 Cleland Poems 34 (Jam.) Their swarms of vermine, and sheep kaids Delights to lodge, beneath the plaids. 1781 J. Hutton Tour to Caves Gloss. (E.D.S.), Kead, a sheep's louse. 1811 Mann. & Cust. in Ann. Reg. 443/2 The sheep are very much infested by vermin known in England by the name of ticks or keds. 1842–51 H. Stephens Bk. of Farm (1891) III. 140 Keds become most numerous when sheep get from a lean to a better condition. |
▪ II. ked, kedde
var. kidde, pa. tense and pa. pple. of kithe v.