▪ I. kiln, n.
(kɪl, kɪln)
Forms: α. 1 cyline, -ene, cyln(e, 4 kulne, 4–5 kylne (kyllne), 6–8 kilne, 6– kiln. β. 5–6 kylle, 6–7 kyll, 7 kil, 5–8 kill. γ. 6–8 (9 dial.) kell. δ. 6–7 keele, 7 kiele.
[OE. cylene, etc.:—*ˈculina, a. L. culīna kitchen, cooking-stove, burning-place; with usual shifting of Latin stress (cf. kitchen).
Outside of English known only in Scand., ON. kylna (Norw. kj{obar}lne, Sw. kölna, Da. k{obar}lle), prob. adopted from Eng. (as Welsh cilin, cil certainly are). In ME. the final -n became silent (in most districts), hence the frequent spelling kill in place of the etymological kiln; cf. miln, mill.]
1. A furnace or oven for burning, baking, or drying, of which various kinds are used in different industrial processes: e.g. (a) a furnace for burning a substance, as in calcining lime (lime-kiln) or making charcoal; (b) an oven or furnace for baking bricks (brick-kiln), tiles, or clay vessels, or for melting the vitreous glaze on such vessels; (c) a building containing a furnace for drying grain, hops, etc. or for making malt.
| α c 725 Corpus Gloss. 906 Fornacula, cyline, heorðe. c 1050 Suppl. ælfric's Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 185/30 Siccatorium, cyln, uel ast. c 1325 Gloss. W. de Bibbesw. in Wright Voc. 158 Toral (kulne). c 1420 Avow. Arth. xv, As kylne other kechine, Thus rudely he rekes. c 1440 Promp. Parv. 274/2 Kylne for malt dryynge (P. kill), ustrina. 1625 Markham's Farew. Husb. 108 Having your Kilne well ordered and bedded, you shall lay as many sheaues thereon, as it can containe. 1683 Lond. Gaz. No. 1789/4 A Kilne for making of Mault. 1703 Moxon Mech. Exerc. 242 Lime..newly drawn out of the Kiln. 1719 De Foe Crusoe i. ix, A Kiln, such as the Potters burn in. 1851 Longfellow Gold. Leg i, A smouldering, dull, perpetual flame, As in a kiln, burns in my veins. |
| β 1471 Yatton Church-w. Acc. (Som. Rec. Soc.) 107 For makyng a kylle and y⊇ lyme-berner xs. 1509 Barclay Shyp of Folys (1570) 107 As one potter maketh of one clay Vessels diuers, but when he must them lay Upon the kill [etc.]. 1577 Harrison England ii. vi. (1877) i. 156 They carrie it [barley] to a kill couered with haire cloth. 1611 Bible Jer. xliii. 9 Hide them in the clay in the bricke kill. 1663 Gerbier Counsel 52 A Kill..for the making of twenty thousand of Bricks. 1728 Ramsay Monk & Miller's Wife 48 Step ye west the kill A bow-shot, and ye'll find my hame. 1777 H. Gates in C. Gist Jrnls. (1893) 280 The extensive Buildings and Kills..are also laid in Ashes. 1828 Craven Dial. s.v., A lime kill, a maut kill. |
| γ 1577 Harrison England iii. viii. (1878) ii. 53 The Chiues..are dried vpon little kelles couered with streined canuasses. 1625 Lisle Du Bartas, Noe 46 The Tyler bakes within his smoakie kell this clay to stone. 1706 Phillips, Kell or Kiln. 1875 Sussex Gloss., Kell, a kiln. |
| δ 1573–80 Baret Alv. B 1232 To make bricke in a keele. 1577 B. Googe Heresbach's Husb. (1586) 28 b, When it [barley] is watred I drie it upon a floore or a keele. 1626 Bacon Sylva §648 The drying [of malt] upon the Keele. |
b. In phrases and proverbs:
esp. to set the kiln on fire (Sc. a-low),
to fire the kiln, to cause a serious commotion or turmoil; so
the kiln's on fire.
| 1590 Lodge Euphues Gold. Leg. in Halliwell Shakespeare VI. 42 Tush, quoth Ganimede, all is not malte that is cast on the kill. 1603 Florio Montaigne (1634) 503 It is that which some say prouerbially, ‘Ill may the Kill call the Ouen {oqq}burnt taile{cqq}’. 1705 Hickeringill Priest-cr. i. (1721) 47 As for my Peck of Malt, set the Kiln on fire. 1722 Wodrow Hist. Suff. Ch. Scot. II. 206 They..told him, that his opposing the Clause, excepting the King's Sons and Brothers, had fired the Kiln. 1818 Scott Hrt. Midl. xlv, The Captain's a queer hand, and to speak to him about that..wad be to set the kiln a low. 1819 ― Leg. Montrose xx, He has contrived to set the kiln on fire as fast as I put it out. |
c. = kilnful.
| 1744–50 W. Ellis Mod. Husbandm. VI. i. 21 They fetch five quarters of lime from the kiln, which they call a kiln of lime, because it is all they burn at once. |
2. attrib. and
Comb., as
kiln-board,
kiln-burning,
kiln-dust,
kiln-fire,
kiln-man,
kiln-mouth,
kiln-wife;
kiln-burnt adj.;
kiln-barn, a barn containing a kiln;
† kiln-cloth, a cloth on which the grain was laid in a kiln;
kiln-eye, (
a) an opening for removing the lime from a lime-kiln; (
b)
= kiln-hole;
† kiln-haire = kiln-cloth;
† kiln-hamer (?);
kiln-hole, the fire-hole of a kiln (see also
quot. 1828);
kiln-house, a kiln, or building containing one;
kiln-logie (see
killogie);
kiln-pot, ? the floor of a malting or drying kiln;
kiln-rib,
-stick,
-tree, one of the sticks on which the grain is laid in a kiln. Also
kiln-dry v.
| a 1670 Spalding Troub. Chas. I (Spald. Cl.) I. 61 Thay..schot hir self with hir barnes to duell in the *kilbarne. |
| 1882 Standard 16 Sept. 8/2 Brickmakers plant and stock, comprising..hack planks, *kiln boards. |
| 1854 J. Scoffern in Orr's Circ. Sc., Chem. 418 The mere process of *kiln-burning. |
| 1850 Gosse Rivers Bible (1878) 174 *Kiln-burnt bricks. 1877 Raymond Statist. Mines & Mining 98 Kiln-burned coal would, it is estimated, weigh 20 pounds per bushel. |
| 1573–80 Baret Alv. K 60 The *kill cloth of haire, cilicium. 1660 Hexham, A Kill-cloath of hair. |
| 1763 Museum Rust. I. 114 To distinguish the genuine malt-dust from that which is called *kiln-dust, which falls through the gratings from the malt whilst it is drying. |
| 1603 Owen Pembrokeshire (1891) 70 A kill..havinge two lope holes in the bottome which they call the *kill eyes. |
| 1875 Knight Dict. Mech. II. 1228 The *kiln-fire is supplied with warm air. |
| 1567 Richmond Wills (Surtees) 211 In the kilne, one seastron and one *kilne hare. |
| 1551 Wills & Inv. N.C. (Surtees, 1835) 134 In the kyell..a *kyllhame{supr} and a wyndooclothe xs. |
| 1598 Shakes. Merry W. iv. ii. 59 Creepe into the *Kill hole. 1828 Craven Dial., Kill-hole, the hole of, or a hovel adjoining, the kill. |
| 1417 Surtees Misc. (1888) 12 The *kylne howse of the same Sir John. 1544 in W. H. Turner Select. Rec. Oxford 174 The kyll howses beneyth the [Oseney] mylls. |
| 1598 Sylvester Du Bartas ii. ii. Babylon 164 There, busie *Kil-men ply their occupations For brick and tyle. |
| 1874 T. Hardy Far from Madding Crowd I. 86 The room inside was lighted only by the ruddy glow from the *kiln mouth. |
| 1785 Burns Halloween xi. note, An answer will be returned from the *kiln-pot, by naming the Christian and surname of your future spouse. 1790 Fisher Poems 149 (E.D.D.) She straught gaed to a deep kiln pot Her fortune for to try. |
| 1737 Bracken Farriery Impr. (1757) II. 150 His Body as dry as a *Kiln-stick. |
| c 1475 Pict. Voc. in Wr.-Wülcker 792/39 Hec ustrinatrix, a *kylme wife. |
Hence
ˈkilnful, as much as a kiln can hold.
rare.
| 1724 Ramsay Tea-t. Misc. (1733) I. 9 A kilnfu' of corn I'll gi'e to thee. |
▪ II. kiln, v. (
kɪl,
kɪln)
[f. prec.] trans. To burn, bake, or dry in a kiln; to kiln-dry.
| 1715 Leoni Palladio's Archit. (1742) I. 4 It must be employ'd as soon as kiln'd, otherwise it wastes..away. Ibid. II. 54 Lime, the manner of killing it. 1725 Bradley Fam. Dict. s.v. Malt, There is also another Error in drying and kilning of Malt. 1881 Blackmore Christowell xxv, The clay was so inferior, and they were kilned in such a doltish manner. |
▪ III. kiln variant of
kill n.4