▪ I. kin, n.1
(kɪn)
Forms: 1 cyn(n, cinn, 1–6 kyn(n; 2–3 cun, 3–4 kun; 2 cen-, 2–4 ken(ne; 4–6 kynne, Sc. kine, kyne, 5–7 kinne, 3– kin.
[Com. Teut.: OE. cyn(n, neuter, = OFris. kin, ken, kon, OS. kunni (MDu. kunne, konne, Du. kunne), OHG. chunni (MHG. künne, kunne), ON. kyn (Da., Sw. kön), Goth. kuni:—OTeut. *kunjo{supm}, from the weak grade of the ablaut-series kin-, kan-, kun- = Aryan gen-, gon-, gn-, ‘to produce, engender, beget’, whence also Gr. γένος, γόνος, γίγνοµαι, L. genus, gignĕre, etc. Cf. ken v.2
In the Teutonic word, as in Latin genus and Greek γένος, three main senses appear, (1) race or stock, (2) class or kind, (3) gender or sex; the last, found in OE. and early ME., but not later, is the only sense in mod.Du., Da., and Sw.]
I. Family, race, blood-relations.
1. a. A group of persons descended from a common ancestor, and so connected by blood-relationship; a family, stock, clan; † in OE. also, people, nation, tribe (freq. with defining genitive, as Israela, Caldea cyn); = kind n. 11, kindred 2. Now rare.
| c 825 Vesp. Psalter lxxvii[i]. 8 Ne sien swe swe fedras heara, cyn ðuerh and bitur. c 897 K. ælfred Gregory's Past. xiv. 84 ᵹe sint acoren kynn Gode. a 1000 Cædmon's Exod. 265 (Gr.) Mid yrmðum Israhela cyn. c 1000 O.E. Chron. (Laud MS.) an. 449 Of Iotum comon Cantwara..& þæt cyn on West Sexum þe man nu ᵹit hæt Iutna cynn. a 1175 Cott. Hom. 227 Þa wes hweðere an meȝie cynn [ælfric i. 24 mæᵹð] þe nefer ne abeah to nane deofel ȝyld..and þes cenne [ælfric mæᵹðe] god sælde and ȝesette ae. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 9137 So þat of þulke kunne þer nas þo no fere. c 1369 Chaucer Dethe Blaunche 438 By tho figuris mowe al ken..rekene and novmbre. 1604 Rowlands Looke to it 11 You that deny the stocke from whence you came, Thrusting your selfe into some Gentle kin. 1879 Hearn Aryan Househ. xii. 280 By the natural expansion of the Household kins are formed; and these kins in turn form within themselves smaller bodies of nearer kinsmen, intermediate..between the Household and the entire kin. |
† b. The family or descendants of a specified ancestor; offspring, progeny, posterity; = kind n. 11 b, kindred 2 b. Obs.
| c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. iii. 7 Cynn ætterna [L. progenies viperarum]. 971 Blickl. Hom. 23 Hie wæron of Dauides cynnes strynde. c 1000 ælfric Hom. II. 190 Ðin cynn [L. semen tuum] sceal ælðeodiᵹ wunian on oðrum earde. c 1200 Ormin 9837 We sinndenn Abrahamess kinn & Abrahamess chilldre. c 1320 Cast. Love 179 Alle the kynne that of hym come Shulde have the same dome. 1567 Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.) 8 Than pray..That ȝe may be of Isackis kin. |
† c. The group of persons formed by each stage of descent in a family or clan; a generation; = kind n. 11 c, kindred 2 c. Obs.
| c 825 Vesp. Psalter lxxxiv. 6 Ne aðene ðu eorre ðin from cynne in cynn. c 1000 Ags. Ps. (Th.) lxxvii. 7 Þæt hi heora bearnum budun..and cinn oðrum cyðden. a 1300 Cursor M. 11401 (Cott.) Þis writte was gett fra kin to kin. Ibid. 1464 (Gött.), Iaraeth Þat was þe fift kin fra seth. |
† d. Genealogy, descent; = kind n. 11 d, kindred 2 d. Obs.
| c 892 O.E. Chron. (Parker MS.) an. 716 Eawa [wæs] Pybing, þæs cyn is beforan awriten. c 1200 Ormin 2059 Ne talde þeȝȝ nohht teȝȝre kinn..Bi wimmenn,..& all forrþi wass Cristess kinn..Bi Josæp reccnedd. a 1225 Leg. Kath. 464 Ȝef þu wult cnawen my cun, ich am kinges dohter. c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 14975 Of Ethelbright haue I told þe kyn. |
2. a. Ancestral stock or race; family. Usually without article and with descriptive adj. or n., esp. in phr. (come) of good (noble, etc.) kin; = kind n. 12, kindred 3. Obs. exc. dial.
| c 1100 O.E. Chron. (MS. D) an. 1067 Of ᵹeleaffullan & æðelan cynne heo wæs asprungon. c 1200 Vices & Virtues 7 Ȝif hie bieð of heiȝe kenne. c 1320 Sir Tristr. 1233 Þe leuedi of heiȝe kenne. c 1380 Sir Ferumb. 442 What ys þy riȝte name; & of wat kyn þou ert y come; tel me al þat soþe. c 1440 Gesta Rom. ii. xci. 416 (Add. MS.) Some are prowde, that they come of noble kynne, and sayne they are Gentil⁓men. 1591 Spenser Teares Muses 345 Some one perhaps of gentle kin. 1856 Ballantine Poems 206 (E.D.D.) He comes o' gude kin. |
b. by kin or of kin, by birth or descent. rare.
| c 1400 Chaucer's Melib. ¶601 (Harl.) A free man by kyn [6 texts kynde] or burthe. c 1450 Bk. Curtasye 13 in Babees Bk. 299 Yf he be gentylmon of kyn, The porter wille lede the to hym. c 1470 Golagros & Gaw. 191, I am your cousing of kyn. 1898 Crockett Standard Bearer 76 (E.D.D.) She was gentle of kin and breeding. |
3. The group of persons who are related to one; one's kindred, kinsfolk, or relatives, collectively. (Now the chief sense.) a. with possess. pron. (rarely the).
| c 875 Sax. Gen. in O.E. Texts 179 Ða wæs agan..ccc ond xcvi wintra ðæs ðe his cynn ærest westseaxna lond on walum ᵹeeodon. 971 Blickl. Hom. 175 For hwon wæron ᵹyt swa treowlease, oþþe incer cynn. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 35 Ga to þine feder burinesse oðer þer eni of þine cunne lið in. 1297 R. Glouc. (Rolls) 253 Al þe kun þat him iseiȝ adde of him ioye. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. i. 166 Vn-kuynde to heare kun and to alle cristene. 1413 Pilgr. Sowle (Caxton 1483) iv. xxiii. 69, I mett in the weye moche dyuerse peple..my frendes and my kyn and also many other. 1550 Crowley Last Trump 296 Thy chyld, nor any other of thy kynne. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. i. v. 123 One of thy kin has a most weake Pia-mater. a 1700 Dryden (J.), The father, mother, and the kin beside, Were overborn by fury of the tide. 1742 Young Nt. Th. iv. 543 Nor are our brothers thoughtless of their kin, Yet absent. 1807 Crabbe Par. Reg. iii. 737 His kin supposed him dead. 1891 Blakiston in Colleges Oxford (1891) 329 Sir Thomas Pope..did not saddle [Trinity College] with any of the preferences for founder's-kin which proved fertile in litigation elsewhere. |
b. Without article or pronoun. Now rare, exc. in kith and (or) kin: see kith.
| c 1250 Hymn to God 30 in Trin. Coll. Hom. App. 259 Fader forȝif vs..Al swo we doð..to freômede & kunne. c 1325 Chron. Eng. 92 (Ritson) Bruyt hade muche folk with him, Bothe fremede and eke kun. c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 4326 Þai spared nouthir kynn na kyth. a 1592 Greene Jas. IV, v. ii, What was I born to be the scorn of kin? 1607 Shakes. Timon i. i. 121 One onely Daughter haue I, no Kin else. 1836 W. Irving Astoria II. 63 One of those anomalous beings..who seem to have neither kin nor country. |
c. Used of a single person: Kinsman, relative; = kindred 4 b. arch.
| c 1200 MS. Digby 59 in Opera Symeon Dunelm. (Surtees) I. 190 Sic dicimus vulgariter Nother kyn nor wyn, id est neque cognatum neque amicum. c 1205 Lay. 13730 He wes heore cun & heore freond. Ibid. 21462 Hercne me Cador; Þu ært min aȝe cun. 1382 Wyclif Ruth ii. 20 And eft she seith, Oure nyȝ kyn is the man. c 1475 Partenay 6278 Ny kyn he is to king off norway, For of Melusine discended all thay. 1601 Shakes. Twel. N. v. i. 237 Of charity, what kinne are you to me? 1790 Shirrefs Poems 78 (E.D.D.) Were he a Laird, he'd be nae kin to me. 1864 Swinburne Atalanta 398 O sweetest kin to me in all the world. |
d. In predicative use passing into adj. = Related, akin (to). Also fig.
| 1597 Shakes. 2 Hen. IV, ii. ii. 120 Like those that are kinne to the King. 1601 ― All's Well ii. i. 41 My sword and yours are kinne. 1606 ― Tr. & Cr. iii. iii. 175 One touch of nature makes the whole world kin: That all with one consent praise new borne gaudes. 1695 tr. Colbatch's New Light Chirurg. Put out 37, I do not find it any the least Kin to a Miracle. 1726 G. Roberts 4 Years Voy. 9 It is next kin to an Impossibility..to have their Water brought out of the Country. 1788 Reid Aristotle's Log. ii. §2. 26 They are indeed Kin to each other. 1870 Disraeli Lothair I. ix. 59 But we are kin; we have the same blood in our veins. |
4. The quality, condition, or fact of being related by birth or descent; kinship, relationship, consanguinity. Now rare.
| a 1548 Hall Chron., Edw. IV 190 He..rode in poste to his kynsman,..verefiyng the old proverbe: kynne will crepe, where it maie not go. 1628 Wither Brit. Rememb. i. 1161 The brother to the brother growes a stranger. There is no kin, but Cousnage. 1678 Butler Hud. iii. i. 1294 'Cause Grace and Virtue are within Prohibited Degrees of Kin. 1700 Dryden Pal. & Arc. ii. 108 Palamon, Whom Theseus holds in bonds..Without a crime, except his kin to me. 1858 Mrs. Oliphant Laird Norlaw III. 156 The Mistress herself, after that first strange impulse of kin and kindness..relapsed into her usual ways. |
II. Class, group, division.
† 5. A large natural group or division of animals or plants, having presumably a common ancestry; the race (of men, fishes, etc.); a race (of plants); = kind n. 10. Obs.
In OE. freq. as the second element in compounds, as déorcynn, fisccynn, fuᵹolcynn, manncynn, w{iacu}fcynn, etc.
| 971 Blickl. Hom. 5 Seo æreste modor þyses menniscan cynnes. Ibid. 83 Him biþ beforan andweard eal engla cynn & manna cynn. a 1000 Boeth. Metr. xi. 67 Merestream ne dear ofer eorðan sceat eard ᵹebrædan fisca cynne. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 97 He walde monna cun on þisse deie isundian. c 1340 Cursor M. 22084 (Fairf.) Alle mannis kin he [antechrist] salle for-do. |
† 6. a. A class (of persons, animals, or things) having common attributes; a species, sort, kind; = kind n. 13. Obs.
| c 950 Lindisf. Gosp. Matt. xvii. 21 Ðis soðlice cynn ne bið fordrifen buta ðerh ᵹebedd and fæstern. c 960 Rule St. Benet (Schröer) i. 9 Feower synt muneca cyn. Ðæt forme is mynstermonna..Oþer cyn is ancrena. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 135 Feole cunne beoð of weldede. a 1250 Owl & Night. 1396 Hi beoþ tweire cunne. c 1450 St. Cuthbert (Surtees) 488 Many Fysches of kynes sere. 1500 Nottingham Rec. III. 450 Any kinnes of corne bought for merchandise. |
† b. In this sense, chiefly in a genitive phrase, dependent upon following n. Cf. kind n. 14.
In OE. the genitive might be either sing. or pl., according to sense; e.g. ælces or ᵹehwylces cynnes déor, animals of each or every kind, moniᵹra cynna scipu, ships of many kinds, þreora cynna treowu, trees of three kinds. In ME., cynnes became kunnes, kynnes, kyns, kins; cynna became kunne, kynne, kyn, kin. For the latter the genitive sing. was often substituted; and conversely, kynne, kin, appeared in the sing., esp. in the north, where it was prob. viewed as an uninflected genitive, as in man son, fader broder, etc. The preceding adjectival word agreeing with kynnes, kins, dropped its gentival s somewhat early; sometimes it was transferred to kinnes, thus alle skynnes (= alles kynnes, alle kynnes), no skynnes, etc. Usually however the two words were at length combined, as in the later forms alkin(s, anykin(s, fele-kin(s, manykin(s, nokin(s or nakin(s, otherkin(s, sere-kin(s, swilkin(s, same-kin(s, thiskin(s, whilk-kin (hwil-kyn), whatkin(s. Few of these came down to 1500, though in the north whatkin is found in the 16th c., and survives in Sc. and north Eng. as what'n, beside siccan from swilk kin.
The reduction of kin to its simple uninflected form may have been assisted by the equivalent use of manere (manner) from OFr., which is thus found, as threo maner men = men of three kinds or sorts. In this, at an early period, we find of inserted: an manere of fisce, al maner o suet spices, the syntactical relation between the words being thus reversed, and although this appears to have rarely extended to kin itself, it affected its later representative kind, also sort, species, etc., so that we now say ‘all kinds of things’ = things of all kinds. This may have been facilitated by the fact that in the order of the words (as distinct from their syntactical relation) ‘al kins thinges’ is more closely represented by ‘all kinds of things’ than by ‘things of all kind’. See kind, manner, sort, etc., and, for the special combinations of kin with preceding adj., alkin, any-kyn, etc.
| a 900 O.E. Martyrol. 18 Apr. 58 Moniᵹra cyna wil deor. 971 Blickl. Hom. 63 Þreora cynna syndon morþras. c 1175 Lamb. Hom. 51 Þer wunieð fower cunnes wurmes inne. Ibid. 79 Alles cunnes wilde deor. c 1200 Ormin 2260 On alle kinne wise. Ibid. 9759 An kinness neddre..Iss Vipera ȝehatenn. a 1250 Owl and Night. 886 Mi muth haveth tweire kunne salve. a 1300 Cursor M. 27901 (Cott.) It es funden bodili foure kin maner [v.r. fowrkins maners] of glotony. c 1340 Ibid. 12346 (Fairf.) Alle þai..honoured him on þaire kin wise. 1362 Langl. P. Pl. A. x. 2 A Castel..I-mad of foure kunne [v.rr. foure skenis, skynnes, kynnes] þinges. c 1384 Chaucer H. Fame iii. 440 Alle skynnes condiciouns. c 1440 Gesta Rom. lxi. 254 (Harl.) He shall telle yow what kynne tidynges that he hathe browte. Ibid. lxix. 316 (Harl.) What kynnys treson is þis? 15.. Sir A. Barton in Surtees Misc. (1888) 68 Ye wott not what kine a man he is. 1572 Lament. Lady Sc. 325 in Satir. Poems Reform. xxxiii, Counterfuting hir in all kin things. |
III. † 7. Gender; sex; = kind n. 7. Obs.
| c 1000 ælfric Gram. vi. (Z.) 18 æfter ᵹecynde syndon twa cyn on namum..werlic and wiflic. c 1000 Sax. Leechd. III. 144 Þæt þu meht witan on bearn-eacenum wife hwæþeres cynnes bearn heo cennan sceal. c 1200 Ormin 3056 Till eȝȝþerr kinn onn eorþe, Till weppmann & till wifmannkinn. |
IV. Phrases. (from 3, 4.)
8. a. of kin = akin: Related by blood-ties. Also, Related in character or qualities.
| 1486 Surtees Misc. (1888) 47 For my sake and othre unto whome he is of kin. 1607–12 Bacon Ess., Atheisme (Arb.) 338 Man is of Kin to the beastes by his body, and if he be not of kin to God by his spiritt, he is a base and ignoble Creature. 1642 Fuller Holy & Prof. St. iv. xix. 339 Kings, how nearly soever allied, are most of Kinne to their own interest. 1741 Monro Anat. Bones (ed. 3) 306 The Bones of the toes are much of kin [ed. 1782 a-kin] to those of the Thumb and Fingers. 1877 C. Geikie Christ lvi. (1879) 685 You are of kin in heart to the prophet-murderers! |
b. near of kin, closely related. ? Obs.
| 1491 Act 7 Hen. VII, c. 22 Preamble, They be ner of kyn. 1611 Bible Ruth ii. 20 The man is neere of kin vnto vs. 1651 Hobbes Leviath. ii. xix. 101 The neerer of kin, is the neerer in affection. 1767 Blackstone Comm. II. xiv. 219 The uncle is certainly nearer of kin to the common stock, by one degree, than the nephew. 1768 Tucker Lt. Nat. (1834) I. ii. xxvi. 564 This probability, being so near of kin to certainty. |
c. next († nearest) of kin, most closely related; chiefly absol. the person (or persons) standing in the nearest degree of blood-relationship to another, and entitled to share in his personal estate in case of intestacy.
| [1426 E.E. Wills (E.E.T.S.) 76 My brethren and my sustren and next of my kyn. 1540 Sc. Acts Jas. V, c. 40 (1814) II. 377/2 Þe nearest of þe kin to succeid to þaim sall haue þair gudis.] a 1548 Hall Chron., Hen. VI 104 b, The next of kynne to the lord Cawny chalenged the enheritaunce. c 1600 K. Leir in Percy's Reliques, Being dead, their crowns they left Unto the next of kin. 1695 Sc. Acts Will. III, c. 72 In the Case of a moveable Estate left by a defunct, and falling to his nearest of kin. 1827 Jarman J. Powell's Devises II. 65 For the next of kin it was argued, that the estate was to be sold out and out. 1881 Encycl. Brit. XIII. 198/1 The next of kin must be ascertained according to the rules of consanguinity. |
| fig. a 1770 Jortin Serm. (1771) IV. ii. 13 As for lying which is next of kin to perjury. |
V. 9. attrib. and Comb., as kin-bond, kin-marriage; kin-sphere; kinfolk chiefly U.S., = kinsfolk, -folks; kin group, a group of people related by blood or marriage. † kin-rest, a general cessation from labour (with reference to the Jewish sabbatical year).
| 1890 Gross Gild Merch. I. 169 When the old *kin-bond (the ‘maegth’) dissolved, various new institutions arose. |
| 1873 ‘Mark Twain’ & Warner Gilded Age ii. 33 No father, no mother, no *kin folks of no kind. 1947 S. J. Perelman Westward Ha! (1949) xii. 153 We managed to unsnarl our respective kinfolk. 1959 Listener 24 Dec. 1128/1 They [sc. the Bwamba] were organized into self-contained patrilineal villages, consisting of a group of male kinfolk with their wives and children. 1964 Mrs. L. B. Johnson White House Diary 8 Apr. (1970) 103, I had asked Mrs. MacArthur and her son, and the Ambassador and all the kinfolks, to stop by the White House to warm up and have a cup of tea. 1970 Daily Progress (Charlottesville, Virginia) 21 Mar. c 2/1 Two willing young women have started ‘The Bride's Workshoppe’ to cope with everything from choosing a gown to picking up kinfolk at the airport. 1973 Publishers Weekly 20 Aug. 75/3 He was always surrounded by affectionate and eccentric kinfolk. |
| 1942 A. R. Johnson One & Many in Israelite Conception God 25 The conception of the individual may not be dissociated from that of his kin-group (conceived in ever-widening circles of relationship). 1951 R. Firth Elem. Social Organiz. ii. 55 Differential family growth..affects the control of wealth by kin groups. 1957 E. Bott Family & Social Network v. 117 Bilateral descent cannot give rise to enduring corporate kin groups. 1970 G. A. & A. G. Theodorson Mod. Dict. Sociol. 220 Kin group, a group united by ties of blood or marriage. |
| 1881 E. B. Tylor in Academy 9 Apr. 265 Exogamy is connected both with wife-capture and with barring *kin-marriage. |
| 1387–8 T. Usk Test. Love i. v. (Skeat) l. 103, I pray that..this eighteth [yere] mowe to me bothe be *kinrest and masse⁓day after the seven werkedays of travayle. |
| 1839 Bailey Festus xxii. (1852) 394 Fear The fate of your *kin-sphere. |
▪ II. kin, n.2 north. dial.
(kɪn)
Forms: 4 kyn(n)e, 8 kinn, 8–9 kin, 9 keen.
[var. of chin, chene, chine n.1, repr. OE. cine, cinu. For the k-, cf. kedlock, keslop, kirk, kirn, etc.]
A crack, chink, or slit; esp. (a) a chasm or fissure in the earth; (b) a chap or crack in the skin.
| c 1330 R. Brunne Chron. Wace (Rolls) 1720 Þey leye in dykes & in kynes [rime Peyteuyns]. Ibid. 13976 In chynes [v.r. kynnes], in creuesses, & in semes. 1737 Bracken Farriery Impr. (1757) II. 244 Subject to what's called a Kin, or Crack in the lower Lip. 1781 J. Hutton Tour to Caves Gloss. (E.D.S.), Kinns, chinks and crevices in rocks, or breaks in the skin of the human body. 1878 Cumbld. Gloss., Kins, Keens, cracks in the hands caused by frost. |
Hence kin v., to chap or crack; kinned a. or pa. pple., cracked, chapped; chilblained.
| 1825 Brockett s.v. Keen, The hands are said to be keened with the frost, when the skin is broken or cracked, and a sore induced. 1855 Robinson Whitby Gloss., ‘Kinn'd hands’, chopped hands. ‘Kinn'd feet’, chilblained feet. |
▪ III. kin
(kɪn)
var. can v.1 A. 1. Common in written Black English.
Also in many representations of regional English.
| 1875 Independent (N.Y.) 2 Sept. 25/4 I'll bet you I kin ride um. 1880 J. C. Harris Uncle Remus i. 20, I speck de ole 'oman en de chilluns kin..git up sump'n fer ter stay yo' stummuck. 1880 [see lallygag v.]. 1894 F. D. Banks in Jrnl. Amer. Folklore VII. 148 Ef she can look him squar in de face when she talks to him, den she kin be trusted. 1936 M. Mitchell Gone with Wind v. 77 You kin allus tell a lady by dat she eat lak a bird. 1952 V. Wilkins King Reluctant i. iii. 46, I kin 'spicion wat Miz Fell gwine ter say. 1964 J. H. Clarke Harlem 263 Don' sent fer m'gal 'n Alabama, So she kin marry me. 1967 in A. Dundes Mother Wit (1973) 272/1 She kin throw 'em out the window. 1973 Black World Oct. 58/2 How much kin you like Boston when you used to the Bayou? |
▪ IV. kin
var. ken n.3