▪ I. † ka, v.1 Obs. exc. dial.
Forms: 6–7 ka, 6 kawe, 6–7 kaw, kay, k, 7–8 kae, 9 kaa.
[Of obscure origin: the synonymous claw me, claw thee is found earlier (see claw 5 b).
The various forms agree curiously with the various names of the letter K, which is itself used in quot. 1605, where there is also a pun on key (then pronounced (keː).]
A word found only in the phrases ka me, ka thee or ka me and I'll ka (also kob) thee, which imply mutual help, service, flattery, or the like.
| 1546 J. Heywood Prov. (1867) 34 Ka me, ka the, one good tourne askth an other. 1595 Lodge Fig for Momus Sat. i. B ij b, To keepe this rule, kaw me and I kaw thee. 1603 Florio Montaigne (1634) 488 Now nature stood ever on this point, Kae mee, Ile kae thee. 1605 Chapman, etc. Eastw. Hoe ii. i, K me, k thee, runs through court and country. Secur. Well said..Those Ks ope the doors to all this world's felicity. 1608 R. Armin Nest Ninn. (1842) 34 But kay me Ile kay thee, giue me an inch to-day; Ile giue thee an ell tomorrow. a 1658 Ford, etc. Witch Edmonton ii. i, If you'll be so kind to ka me one good turn, I'll be so courteous to kob you another. 1676 Marvell Mr. Smirke 42 Turn'd into Jackdaw, and grew as black as a Crow, Filching, and Kaw me and Ile Kaw thee, ever after. 1721 Kelly Sc. Prov. 227 Kae me, and I'll kae thee; Spoken when great People invite and feast one another, and neglect the Poor. 1893 Northumbld. Gloss. s.v., ‘Kaa me, kaa thee’, or ‘Kaa mee an' aa'll kaa thee’, a common saying. |
▪ II. † ka, v.2
(kə)
Var. quo': see quoth, quotha.
| a 1553 Udall Royster D. i. ii. (Arb.) 17 Enamoured quod you?..Enamoured ka? mary sir say that againe. 1588 Marprel. Epist. 20 That is my meaning, ka dumb Iohn. |
▪ III. ka, n.
(kɑː)
Also kaa.
The name given by the ancient Egyptians to a spiritual part of a human being or a god which survived after death and could reside in a statue of the dead person.
| a 1892 Tennyson in A. G. Weld Glimpses Tennyson (1903) 119, I believe that beside our material body we possess an immaterial body, something like what the ancient Egyptians called the Ka. 1905 E. F. Benson Image in Sand i. 11 Somebody's Ka—his ghost, you know, or his astral body. 1923 Glasgow Herald 22 Feb. 4 The Princess has a Ka, or better self. 1952 J. M. White Anc. Egypt 40 The Ka lived in the tomb with the mummy. 1968 V. Ions Egyptian Mythol. 123 The ka, the vital principle of a man or of a god. 1972 Daily Tel. (Colour Suppl.) 3 Mar. 29/4 The Ancient Egyptians, whose civilisation goes back earlier than 3,000 BC, believed that the ka or spirit of a man could only survive if his body was preserved. |
▪ IV. ka
obs. variant of kae, jackdaw; of caw, cry of a crow; Sc. f. call, drive.