▪ I. kell Obs. exc. dial.
(kɛl)
Also 4–6 kelle, 7 kel.
[A northern form corresp. to ME. calle, caul n.1; the difference in vowel is not easy to account for, but cf. mell, Sc. form of maul, mall.]
1. A woman's hair-net, cap, or head-dress: = caul n.1 1.
| a 1400 Pistill of Susan 128 (MS. A) By a wynliche welle Susan cast of hir kelle. Ibid. 158 (MS. I) Þan had sche kast of hire kell and hire courcheffe. 1513 Douglas æneis vii. xiv. 82 The hair was of this damysell Knyt wyth a buttoune in a goldin kell. 1603 Philotus xxii, Than may ȝe haue baith Quaiffis and Kellis..All for ȝour weiring and not ellis. ? a 1700 Childe Maurice v. in Child Ballads (1886) iv. lxxxiii. 264/2 As many times As knotts beene knitt on a kell. 1817 Lady Margaret in Whitelaw Bk. Scot. Ball. (1875) 55/2 To braid her hair she didna care Nor sett her golden kell. |
b. dial. The back part of a woman's cap.
| 1871 W. Alexander Johnny Gibb xlvi. (1873) 256 A mutch that my wife hed ance wi' a byous muckle squar' kell. |
2. A long cloak or garment; a shroud.
| c 1425 Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 656/15 Hec caracalla, kelle. [Cf. ibid. 571/34 Caracalla, a sclavayn or a cope.] ? a 1800 Gay Goss-Hawk xxx. in Child Ballads (1886) iv. xcvi E. 364/2 Then up and gat her seven sisters, And sewed to her a kell, And every steek that they pat in Sewd to a siller bell. |
3. Gossamer threads forming a kind of film on grass. Cf. caul 3.
| 1523 Fitzherb. Husb. §54 Also there wyll be many kelles vppon the grasse, and that causeth the myldewe. 1576 Turberv. Venerie 76 Many tymes the cobwebbes fall from the skye and are not suche as spyders make, but a kind of kell. 1614 Markham Cheap Husb. i. iii. i. (1623) 107 Those webs, kels, and flakes..lying on the earth, and a sheep licking them vp, do breed rottennesse. 1663 J. Beal Let. to Boyle 9 Nov., Boyle's Wks. 1772 VI. 357 Those kells, which like cobwebs do sometimes cover the grounds. |
b. The web or cocoon of a spinning caterpillar.
| 1612 Drayton Poly-olb. iii. 42 Trees..With caterpillers kells, and duskie cobwebs hong. 1616 B. Jonson Devil an Ass ii. vi, [Love could] Bury himselfe in euery Silke⁓wormes Kell. |
4. Anat. An investing membrane or film: = caul 4.
| 1540 T. Raynalde Byrth Mankynde i. ii. (1634) 19 The fleshy skinne..is compassed of fleshinesse, more then any other kell or skin in all the body. 1630 Drayton Noah's Flood Wks. 1538 note, The aspick hath a kell of skin which covereth his teeth until it be angry. 1766 Chron. in Ann. Reg. 120/1 She..has a speck or kell over one eye. |
| fig. 1823 Galt R. Gilhaize I. 271 She was soon scrapit of all the scurf and kell of her abominations. |
5. spec. a. The fatty membrane investing the intestines; the omentum: = caul 5 a.
| 1578 Banister Hist. Man v. 67 We call one part of the Kell the Anteriour or superiour Membran, and the other the inferiour or posteriour. 1611 Beaum. & Fl. Philaster v. iv, I'le have him cut to the kell, then down the seames. 1694 Motteux Rabelais v. xvii, The inner thin Kell wherewith the Intrails are cover'd. a 1825 Forby Voc. E. Anglia, Kell, the omentum or caul. 1877 in N.W. Linc. Gloss. |
b. The amnion inclosing the fœtus, and sometimes enveloping the head at birth: = caul 5 b.
| 1530 Palsgr. 235/2 Kell in a womans belly, taye. 1621 Burton Anat. Mel. iii. iii. ii. i, A silly jealous fellow..seeing his childe new born included in a kell, thought sure a Franciscan..was the father of it, it was so like the Frier's Coule. 1828 Craven Dial. s.v., Brand mentions several advertisements in which these kells or cauls were announced for sale. 1883 in N.W. Linc. Gloss. s.v., Oor ohd mare, she foal'd e' th' neet, an' th' foal could n't braak th' kell, so it was droonded. |
6. Comb. (sense 1), as kell-knitter, kell-maker, kell-wise.
| a 1400–50 Alexander 3300 Þis coppis opon kell-wyse knytt in þe woȝes. 14.. Nominale in Wr.-Wülcker 692/35 Hec reciaria, a kelmaker. 1483 Cath. Angl. 201/2 A kelle knytter, reticularius, reticularia. |
Hence kelled († keld) a., webbed.
| 1630 Drayton Noah's Flood Wks. 1534 The otter..feeds on fish, which..He with his keld feet and keen teeth doth kill. |
▪ II. kell
obs. form of kale, kiln.