▪ I. kyte Sc. and north. dial.
(kaɪt)
Also 7 kyt, 7–9 kite.
[Etymology uncertain. Cf. early mod.Du. (Kilian) kijte, kiete (mod.W. Flemish kijte, kiet), var. of MDu. cuyte, kuite a fleshy part of the body, esp. the thigh (Du. kuit calf of the leg), = MLG. kût, fleshy part, entrails (Lübben).
The suggestion of Jamieson, repeated by later dicts., that kyte represents OE. cwið, ON. kvið belly, is inadmissible.]
The belly, stomach, paunch.
| c 1540 Lyndesay Kitteis Confessioun 140 Thocht Codrus kyte suld cleue and birst. a 1585 Polwart Flyting w. Montgomerie 754 Misly kyt! 1674 Ray N.C. Words 27 A Kite; A Belly, Cumb. 1787 Burns To a Haggis iv, Till a' their weel-swall'd kytes belyve Are bent like drums. 1820 Scott Monast. xxxiii, To dress dainties at dinner-time for his ain kyte. 1855 Robinson Whitby Gloss., Kite, stomach. 1895 Crockett Men of Moss Hags xxxvi. 259 His horse..is now filling his kyte in my stable, as his master is eke doing in hall. |
▪ II. kyte
obs. form of kite, the bird, etc.