▪ I. kit, n.1
(kɪt)
Forms: 4–5 kyt, 4–7 kitt, 5–6 kytt(e, 6– kit.
[app. a. MDu. kitte a wooden vessel made of hooped staves (Du. kit tankard): ulterior etymology uncertain.]
1. a. A circular wooden vessel, made of hooped staves; in different localities applied to vessels of various sizes, with or without a lid, and usually having a handle or handles; as, a small open tub with one or two of the staves fashioned into handles, used for holding water or ‘washing up’; a deeper vessel with a lid used as a milking-pail; a tub- or pail-shaped vessel, often with a lid, used for holding or carrying milk, butter, fish, or other commodities; whence, by extension, sometimes, a square box used for the same purpose.
| 1375 Barbour Bruce xviii. 168 Thai strak his hed of, and syne it Thai haf gert salt in-till a kyt [v.r. kitt] And send it in-till Ingland. 14.. Nominale in Wr.-Wülcker 696/14 Hoc multrum, a kytt. 1485 Inv. in Ripon Ch. Acts (Surtees) 371, j kitt cum cooperculo. 1565 Inv. in Trans. Cumbld. & Westmld. Arch. Soc. X. 31 In the brew howse A Leade, a mashe fat... Two Kytts. 1570 Levins Manip. 148/43 Kit, a litle vessel, cantharus, fidelia. 1633 in Cramond Ann. Banff (1891) I. 71 Paid for three Kittis of Salmound. 1649 W. Blithe Eng. Improv. Impr. ix. (1653) 56 As a man doth with a hand-scoop, pail, or kit, cast water out of a ditch. 1674 Ray N.C. Words 27 A Kit or milking Pail..with two Ears and a Cover. 1701 C. Wolley Jrnl. New York (1860) 55, I..ordered him to fetch a kit full of water and discharge it at them. 1771 Smollett Humph. Cl. 3 Sept., The following articles formed our morning's repast; one kit of boiled eggs; a second, full of butter; a third full of cream. 1795 J. Richardson in J. Robertson Agric. Perth (1799) 378 Salmon was..preserved in vinegar, and packed up in small wooden vessels called kits. 1802 Mawe Min. Derbysh. Gloss. (E.D.S.), Kit, a wood vessel of any size. 1825 Brockett, Kit, properly a covered milking-pail with two handles, but often applied to a small pail of any sort. 1832–53 Whistle-Binkie Ser. iii. 114 We've kits fu' o' butter—we've cogs fu' o' brose. 1878 Cumbld. Gloss., Butter kits, square boxes used for conveying butter to market in a wallet on horseback. 1883 Fisheries Exhib. Catal. 72 Samples of Red Herrings in kits. 1888 Sheffield Gloss., Kit or Kitty,..a wooden tub with one handle, in which..grinders cool their knives, saws, etc. |
b. A kind of basket, esp. one made of straw or rushes for holding fish. Also in extended use, and, by metonymy, the contents of a kit, used as a measure of weight.
| 1847–78 in Halliwell. 1859 Sala Tw. round Clock (1861) 20 Crabs are sold by the ‘kit’ (a long shallow basket) and by the score. 1906 Daily Chron. 12 Apr. 6/3 One vessel alone brought in a thousand kits of fish. 1934 ‘Taffrail’ Seventy North ix. 185, 20,000 to 25,000 ‘kits’ of fish, each weighing ten stone might be landed from the trawlers—say 125 to 150 tons. 1935 ‘L. Luard’ Conquering Seas ii. 20 Within two hours of berthing, with a full two thousand kit aboard..over a hundred tons of fish. 1961 Guardian 18 Jan. 9/2 He was pushing a barrow on the fish dock, wheeling aluminium ‘kits’ which, when full, each contain 10 stone of fish. |
2. a. A collection of articles (called articles of kit) forming part of the equipment of a soldier, and carried in a valise or knapsack; also, the valise containing these, or this with its contents; sometimes = outfit, ‘turn-out’, uniform.
| 1785 Grose Dict. Vulg. T. s.v., The kit is likewise the whole of a soldier's necessaries, the contents of his knapsack. 1813 Sir R. Wilson Priv. Diary II. 18 Considering that we were conspicuous à cheval, and in glittering kits, it is wonderful that no marksman fired with unerring aim. 1820 J. W. Croker in C. Papers 16 June (1884), Several [soldiers]..removed their kits from the barracks. 1855 Thackeray Newcomes xxvi, His kit is as simple as a subaltern's. 1868 Regul. & Ord. Army ¶602 c, The Articles of Kit to be worn and carried in the different orders. 1870 Illustr. Lond. News 29 Oct. 446 They came without muskets or kits, but the officers had their swords. |
b. A collection of personal effects or necessaries, esp. as packed up for travelling.
| 1833 Marryat P. Simple xiv, I hardly need say that my lord's kit was valuable; and what was better, they exactly fitted me. 1849 Thackeray Pendennis I. xvi. 160 The widow and Laura..set about the preparation for Pen's kit, and filled trunks with his books and linen. 1862 F. Hall Hindu Philos. Syst. 107 He thereupon dressed, tied up his kit, and set off. 1866–7 Livingstone Last Jrnls. (1873) I. v. 111, I sent a man to carry his kit for him. |
c. The outfit of tools required by a workman, esp. a shoemaker.
| [1825 Brockett, Kit,..the stool on which a cobbler works.] 1851 S. Judd Margaret I. iii. 17 The workshop..contained a loom, a kit where the father of Margaret sometimes made shoes. 1858 M. Porteous Souter Johnny 10 The Souter..Liv'd wi' his kit, And made gude shoon. 1881 Pharmaceut. Jrnl. 165 The kit of tools for a nipple maker consists of a small slanting case [etc.] 1885 Harper's Mag. Jan. 282/2 The laster is about the only shoemaker left who can still talk..of his ‘kit’. |
d. A set or outfit of tools, equipment, etc.; spec., a collection of parts sold for the buyer to assemble. Also fig. and attrib.
| 1859 G. W. Matsell Vocabulum 48 Kit..the implements of a burglar. 1907 Yesterday's Shopping (1969) 277/2 The Army & Navy Boot Kit contains 3 shoe brushes,..1 tin of boot polish, complete in leather case. 1935 A. J. Pollock Underworld Speaks 68/1 Kit, a safe⁓cracker's tools. 1955 Amer. Speech XXX. 226 Kit, all the necessary parts to assemble one section of the plane. 1955 A. Huxley Genius & Goddess 51 A make-up kit and a bottle of cheap perfume. 1961 Partridge Dict. Slang Suppl. 1160/1 Kit, paint-kettle and -brushes: house⁓painters' coll. 1967 Listener 3 Aug. 148/2 Beckett forces upon you a do-it-yourself Tantalus-kit. He requires you to seek and not to find. 1970 House & Garden Mar. 77/2 ‘Cena’ chair... Comes in kit form (see components below)..from {pstlg}14 19s. plus tool kit. 1970 Times 26 Sept. 18/1 Make your own sausages... Kit includes hand-filler, recipes and full instructions, also herbs, spices, skins. 1970 D. Marlowe Echoes of Celandine i. 12, I have also a penchant for vintage-car kits... I have constructed the 1929 Mercedes Benz SSK three times. |
e. An outfit of drums, cymbals, and other percussion devices and accessories used by a drummer in a dance-band, jazz-group, or the like.
| 1929 Melody Maker Mar. 259/3 Lyman plays the drums in the band—at least he sits behind a nice kit. 1934, 1965 [see drum kit s.v. drum n.1 12 a]. 1971 Melody Maker 27 Nov. 47/3 It's more important to think about the music than the colour of your kit. A good drummer is going to sound good even if he plays on the table top. |
f. A quantity of printed matter on a specified topic for students, etc.
| 1968 Globe & Mail (Toronto) 17 Feb. 36 (Advt.), Savannah's full of colonial names... Why not add your name to an illustrious list? Write for our free travel kit. 1971 J. B. Carroll et al. Word Frequency Bk. p. vi, The materials themselves include text-books, periodicals, encyclopedias, novels, student workbooks, kits, and so on, all of which contain vocabulary to which students are exposed. 1971 Guardian 7 June 6/7 The SACK—School and Community Kit—is made up of information and ideas on community projects for schools, together with reference material. 1974 Catholic Herald 4 Oct. 4/2 The study kits come in colourful folders and contain pictures, taped songs, fact sheets and quotations from Church leaders. |
3. colloq. A number of things or persons viewed as a whole; a set, lot, collection; esp. in phr. the whole kit. Also, the whole kit and boiling (boodle, caboodle, cargo). (Cf. caboodle.) U.S.
| 1785 Grose Dict. Vulg. T., Kit,..is also used to express the whole of different commodities; as, Here, take the whole kit; i.e. take all. 1788 R. Galloway Poems 170 (Jam.) 'Twas whiskey made them a' sae crouse;..But now I wad na gi'e ae louse For a' the kit. 1821 Shelley Œdipus Tyr. i. 92 I'll sell you in a lump The whole kit of them. a 1852 F. M. Whitcher Widow Bedott Papers (1856) xxiii. 257 The hull kit and cargo on 'em had conspired together. 1859 Bartlett Dict. Amer. (ed. 2) 32 Biling, a vulgar pronunciation of boiling. The phrase the whole (or more commonly hull) kit and bilin, means the whole lot, applied to persons and things. 1861 Dickens Gt. Expect. xl, A better gentleman than the whole kit on you put together. a 1861 T. Winthrop John Brent (1883) xxviii. 237, I motioned we shove the hul kit an boodle of the gamblers ashore on logs. 'Twas kerried. 1888 Boston Globe 5 Feb. 1/3 If any ‘railroad lobbyist’ cast reflections on his character he would wipe out the whole kit and caboodle of them. 1908 Dialect Notes III. 327 (East Alabama) Kit an(d) bilin, the crowd. Usually in the expression ‘the whole kit and bilin’. Cf. kit and cargo of the middle west. 1920 S. Lewis Main St. 50 The whole kit and bilin' of 'em are nothing in God's world but socialism in disguise. 1946 Newsweek 16 Sept. 32/2 It gave the farm and the whole kit and boodle to Stanley. 1969 Listener 22 May 707/3 The whole kit and caboodle of us were then investigated by the FBI to see how many subversives there were among us. |
4. attrib. and Comb. a. (sense 1) kit-dressing (see quot.); kit-haddock, an inferior sort of haddock, sent away in kits for curing; kit-trade, the trade of putting up fish in kits for the market. b. (sense 2) kit-inspection; kit-bag, a stout bag in which to carry a soldier's or traveller's kit; kit-car, a motor car sold in parts for assembly by the owner; a build-it-yourself car; kit-drill (see quot.); kitset N.Z., the components and aids for assembling an article (radio, furniture, etc.) or model (aeroplane, etc.).
| a. |
| 1831 Glover's Hist. Derby I. 261 The rural festival of *kit dressing took place on the 4th of August 1829... Twigs of willow were bent over the tops of the kits... The maidens carried the kits on their heads. |
| 1894 Daily Free Press (Aberdeen) 18 May 7/6 *Kit haddocks, 10s. to 13s. per box. |
| 1866 Mitchell Hist. Montrose xvi. 136 The Berwick-on-Tweed companies..commenced the boiling and *kit-trade. |
| b. |
| 1898 Westm. Gaz. 7 Apr. 4/1, I looked at the marching boots..and wished they were in my *kit-bag along with the wonderful assortment of articles..technically described as ‘small kit’. 1899 Ibid. 25 Sept. 3/1 An exceedingly handy form of knapsack or kit-bag that I bought..in Germany for the modest sum of 1s. 9d. |
| 1953 G. Durrell Overloaded Ark xiii. 216, I..set off early one morning in the back of the Schiblers' *kit-car. 1964 Sunday Times (Colour Suppl.) 29 Nov. 53/3 The modern kit car... All you need is practical application, a few hand tools. 1970 Sunday Truth (Brisbane) 18 Jan. 60/3 Here we loaded the kit-car..and travelled south to Biafra. |
| 1890 19th Cent. Nov. 849 The man condemned to *kit drill marches up and down the barrack square for two hours a day carrying his entire kit in his valise, including boots, his sword, carbine, and cloak. |
| 1892 Pall Mall G. 3 Dec. 6/3 Two corporals and eleven privates..absented themselves from a *kit inspection. |
| 1963 Weekly News (Auckland) 8 May 56/5 Transistor radio *kitsets. New low prices. Easy-to-build range from crystal set, {pstlg}1, to 7T portables, {pstlg}9/19/6. 1966 Ibid. 26 Jan. 6/6 Many other clubs throughout the Auckland province assist the young yachtsman with kitsets and drawings for home building [of yachts]. |
▸ Brit. colloq. Clothes, clothing. Chiefly in to get one's kit off and variants: to undress, strip.
T. Thorne Bloomsbury Dict. of Contemporary Slang (1990) 296/2 records an oral use from 1987.
| 1989 Smash Hits 1–14 Nov. 4/2 (caption) Here we see Debbie with her group Blondie. She still hasn't whipped her kit off! 1990 Viz Dec. 4/2, I wonder whether she has ever got her kit off in a film, and if so, is it available on video? 1999 R. T. Davies Queer as Folk: Scripts Episode 1 18 (stage direct.) Stuart and Nathan, kit off, on the bed, necking away. 2004 D. King Pornographer Diaries vi. 81 It's a different sort of rush from when you take a bird home and she gets her kit off for the first time. |
▪ II. kit, n.2 Now rare.
(kɪt)
[Origin obscure.
Perh. repr. the initial part of Gr. κιθάρα cithara, or some derivative form of that word.]
A small fiddle, formerly much used by dancing masters.
| 1519 Interl. Four Elem. in Hazl. Dodsley I. 48 This dance would do mich better yet, If we had a kit or taberet. 1562 T. Phaer æneid ix. Cc iv b, His pastime chief was harpe and kit. 1637 B. Jonson Sad Sheph. i. ii, Each did dance, some to the kit or crowd, Some to the bag-pipe. 1709 Steele Tatler No. 34 ¶4 Pray let me see you dance: I play upon the Kit. 1852 Dickens Bleak Ho. xiv, Prince Turveydrop then tinkled the strings of his kit with his fingers, and the young ladies stood up to dance. |
| attrib. 1634 W. Cartwright Ordinary i. ii. in Hazl. Dodsley XII. 220 Do you not hear her guts already squeak Like kit-strings? |
▪ III. kit, n.3
(kɪt)
Also 6 kytte, kitt.
A shortened form of kitten.
| 1562 J. Heywood Prov. & Epigr. (1867) 203 Thy cat great with kytte. 1599 Life Sir T. More in Wordsw. Eccl. Biog. (1853) II. 112 She would now and then show herself to be her mother's daughter, kitt after kinde. 1729 Mrs. Delany Lett., to Mrs. A. Granville 225, I forgot to say my cat had four kits. 1844 E. FitzGerald Lett. (1889) I. 127 Thank Miss Barton much for the kit;..my old woman is a great lover of cats, and hers has just kitted. 1957 Kitt [see kitten n. 1 b]. 1970 Times 8 Sept. 11/3 The kits [sc. young mink] are fully grown at six months. 1974 A. Dillard Pilgrim at Tinker Creek ii. 15 You crouch motionless on a bank..and are rewarded by the sight of a muskrat kit paddling from its den. |
▪ IV. kit, n.6 Naut.
(kɪt)
[a. G. kitt cement, mastic, putty, etc., whence also Da. kit, Sw. kitt. There is little evidence of the use of the term in Eng.]
A composition of resin, pitch, and tallow applied to the canvas used for covering carcasses (see carcass 7).
| 1815 in Falconer's Marine Dict. 1885 in Cassell's Encycl. Dict. |
▪ V. kit, n.7
(kɪt)
A local name for the fish also called mary-sole, smear-dab, and sand-fluke.
| 1836 Yarrell Brit. Fishes II. 241 The Kit of Jago is the smooth or small-headed dab. 1880–84 Day Fishes Gt. Brit. II. 29 Pleuronectes microcephalus,..[in] Cornwall..it has likewise been known as kit;..at Hove, as ‘the kit’. |
▪ VI. kit, n.8 Photogr.
(kɪt)
A thin frame inserted in a plate-holder to hold plates smaller than those for which the holder was originally constructed.
| 1885 in Cassell's Encycl. Dict. 1889 Anthony's Photogr. Bull. II. 74 A 5×8 is the best size for general use, and with a few 3×44 kits is all that is needed. |
▪ VII. kit, n.9
see kit-fox.
▪ VIII. kit, n.10
[app. ad. Ger. dial. kitte, kütte, covey, flight of doves, etc.: see Grimm 2895/1.]
A school of pigeons.
| 1880 Times 24 Nov. 10/3 Mr. Cotton's handsome birds from Sunningdale, and the Macclesfield tipplers, which fly in schools or ‘kits’ for hours against another school. |
▪ IX. kit, n.11 N.Z.
(kɪt)
Also kete, kête.
[ad. Maori kete.]
A basket plaited from flax. Hence ˈkitful.
| 1834 E. Markham N.Z. or Recollections of It (MS.) 44 They make Baskets or Kits as we call them for potatoes. 1841 W. Colenso Jrnl. (typescript) I. 120 Opening his kete and taking out his Blanket. 1856 E. B. Fitton New Zealand 68 Neatly made baskets, plaited from flax, and known by the name of ‘Maori kits’. 1877 W. T. Pratt Colonial Experiences 31 Potatoes were procurable from the Maories [sic] in flax kits, at from one to five shillings the kit. 1882 W. D. Hay Brighter Britain! I. ii. 38 [The well-to-do Maori] stops and ..examines the kitful of fruit. 1884 Lady Martin Our Maoris 44 My heart is like an old kête (i.e., a coarsely-woven basket). 1902 W. Satchell Land of Lost xviii. 161, I will give you a kitful when you go away. 1936 ‘R. Hyde’ Check to your King xiii. 156 Great flax-kits of Kumaras..were left outside the door. 1938 R. Finlayson Brown Man's Burden 75 So the three men got enough kitfuls [of shellfish] long before Hira came back. 1941 Baker N.Z. Slang vi. 55 We have also put into wide use the term kit for a shopping basket. 1958 S. Ashton-Warner Spinster 41 When I comes to this word ‘basket’ in my book I never says ‘basket’... I always says ‘kit’. 1969 F. Sargeson Joy of Worm iii. 105 Between the two of them they carried a flax kit of food. |
▪ X. kit, v.1
(kɪt)
[f. kit n.1]
1. trans. To put or pack in a kit or kits; esp. fish for the market. Hence ˈkitted ppl. a., placed or packed in a kit.
| 1725 Ramsay Gent. Sheph. iv. ii, To leave his ram-horn spoons, and kitted whey. 1776 Pennant Zool. IV. 290 The fish [salmon] is..boiled, pickled, and kitted, and sent to the London markets. 1845 New Statist. Acc. Scot., Caithness XV. 45 The salmon are kitted in the usual way and sent to London. |
2. To equip (someone or something) with a uniform, an outfit, personal effects, equipment, etc. Freq. with out, up. So kitted (out, up), provided with clothing, accessories, etc.; kitting (up) vbl. n.
| 1919 W. Lang Sea-Lawyer's Log ii. 13 It is pleasant to march down to the kitting-up store and have garments thrown at you..without price. Ibid. 16 Now we have been ‘kitted up’, as the nautical expression has it. 1925 T. E. Lawrence Let. 25 Aug. (1938) 481 Sergeant take this man to the Q.M. Stores, kit him at once, and put him into the first train for Cranwell. 1945 Times 25 May 2/2 In a day or so these men would be kitted up in smart new uniform and go on leave. 1948 ‘N. Shute’ No Highway ii. 50 I'll get a letter through to Ottawa asking them to kit you up for the trip. 1958 Technology May 68/3 Some firms may wish to give students a ‘kitting up allowance’. 1960 K. Amis New Maps of Hell (1961) iv. 95 There are cases on record of writers having to kit out contemporary narratives with aliens and space-ships in order to make a sale. 1962 Guardian 7 Aug. 5/1 A child can have ten days skiing for under {pstlg}25 and be kitted out by Moss Brothers into the bargain. 1963 Times 18 Jan. 3/6 The cars—numbered, polished and kitted with every conceivable gadget to compete against time and the elements—will set course for the Côte d'Azur. Ibid. 20 Apr. 3/4 Probably the business locality this weekend will be Bristol, where the England players for the short Antipodean tour will foregather to be kitted and generally vetted. 1970 New Society 5 Mar. 384/1 Voluntary labour repaired and kitted out about 20 houses in three months. 1973 Daily Tel. 21 Nov. 14/3 The 1500 TC offers good value at {pstlg}1,295 for a well kitted-out four-door 1½-litre. |
▪ XI. kit, v.2 rare.
[f. kit n.3]
trans. and absol. To kitten, kittle.
| 1758 Brit. Chron. 1 May 410 a few days ago a cat at Brinkley..kitted two squirrels, which are now both alive. 1844 [see kit n.3]. |
▪ XII. kit
obs. inf., pa. tense and pa. pple., of cut v.