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Dictionary of Phrase and Fable

E. Cobham Brewer From The Edition Of 1894

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the eleventh letter of the English alphabet. The form and sound of the letter K are from the Latin, which used the letter but little except in the early period of the language. It came into the Latin from the Greek, which received it from a Phoenician source, the ultimate origin probably being Egyptian.

Formerly, k was added to c in certain words of Latin origin, as in musick, publick, republick; but now it is omitted.

K

To be branded with a K (kalumnia). So, according to the Lex Memmia, false accusers were branded in the forehead.

K

The three bad K's. The Greeks so called the Karians, Kretans, and Kilikians. The Romans retained the same expression, though they spelt the three nations with C instead of K.

K.C.B

Knight Commander of the Bath.

K.G

Knight of the Garter.

K.K

is the German Kaiserliche Königliche. The Emperor of Austria is styled K.K. Majestät (His Imperial Royal Majesty).

K.O.B

(i.e. the King's Own Borderers). The 25th Foot, so called in 1805.

Ka Me, Ka Thee One good turn deserves another; do me a service, and I will give you a helping hand when you require one. (Latin, Fricantem frica, or Muli mutuo scabunt.)

“Ka me, ka thee, is a proverb all over the world.” — Sir W. Scott: Kenilworth, chap. v.

Kaaba

(Arabic, kabah, a square house). A shrine of Mecca, said to have been built by Abraham on the spot where Adam first worshipped after his expulsion from Paradise. In the north—east corner is a stone seven inches long, said to be a ruby sent down from heaven. It is now black, from being kissed so often by sinful man. (See Adam's Peak.)

Kabibonokka

(North — American Indian). Son of Mudjekeewis, and the Indian Boreas, who dwelt in Wabasso (the North). He paints the autumn leaves scarlet and yellow, sends the snow, binds the rivers in ice, and drives away the seagull, cormorant, and heron. (See Shingebis.)

Kadris

Mohammedan dervishes who lacerate themselves with scourges.

Kaffir

(Arabic, Kâfir. an infidel). A name given to the Hottentots, who reject the Moslem faith. Kafiristan, in Central Asia, means “the country of the infidels.”

“The affinity of the Kafir tribes ... including the Kafirs proper and the people of Congo, is based upon the various idioms spoken by them, the direct representatives of a common, but now extinct, mother tongue. This aggregate of languages is now conveniently known as ... the Bantu linguistic system.” — K. Johnston: Africa, p. 447.

Kai—Omurs

(the mighty Omurs), surnamed Ghil—shah (earth's king). Son of Dulavëd, founder of the city Balk, and first of the Kai—Omurs or Paishdadian dynasty of Persia (B.C. 940—920). (See Paisdadian.)

Kai—anians

The sixth Persian dynasty. The semi—historic period (B.C. 660—331). So called because they took for their affix the term kai (mighty), called by the Greeks Ku (Kuros), and by the Romans Cy (Cyrus).

Kailyal

(2 syl.). The heroine of Southey's Curse of Keháma.

Kain Hens

Hens that a tenant pays to his landlord, as a sort of rent in kind (ill—fed hens). (Guy Mannering, v.)

Kaiser

The German Emperor. He receives the title from Dalmatia, Croatia, and the line of the Danube, which, by the arrangement of Diocletian, was governed by a prince entitled Caesar of the Holy Roman Empire, as successor of the emperor of the old Roman empire. It was Albert II., Duke of Austria, who added the Holy Roman Empire to the imperial throne in 1438; and William I., king of Prussia, on being crowned German emperor in 1871, took the title.

Kajak

An Esquimaux boat, used by the men only. Eighteen feet long, eighteen inches broad in the middle, the ends tapering, and one foot deep.

Kaled

is Gulnare (2 syl.) in the disguise of a page in the service of Lara. After Lara was shot, she haunted thespot of his death as a crazy woman, and died of a broken heart. (Byron: Lara.)

Kaleda

(Selavonic mythology). The god of peace, somewhat similar to the Latin Janus. His feast was celebrated on the 24th of December.

Kali

A Hindu goddess after whom Calcutta receives its name, Kali—Kutta (Kali's village).

Kaliyuga The last of the four Hindu periods contained in the great Yuga, equal to the Iron Age of classic mythology. It consisted of 432,000 solar—sidereal years, and began 3,102 years before the Christian era. The bull, representing truth and right, has but one foot in this period, because all the world delights in wickedness. (See Krita.)

Kalmar'

The Union of Kalmar. A treaty made on July 12th 1397, to settle the succession of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark on Queen Margaret and her heirs for ever. This treaty lasted only till the death of Margaret.

Kalmucks

— i.e. Khalmuiku (apostates) from Buddhism. A race of western Monguls, extending from western China to the valley of the Volga river.

Kalpa

A day and night of Brahmâ, a period of 4,320,000,000 solar—sidereal years. Some say there are an infinity of Kalpas, others limit the number to thirty. A Great Kalpa is a life of Brahmâ; the whole duration of time from the creation to the destruction of the world.

Kalpa—Tarou

A tree in Indian mythology from which might be gathered whatever a person desired. This tree is “the tree of the imagination.”

Kalyb

The “Lady of the Woods,” who stole St. George from his nurse, brought him up as her own child, and endowed him with gifts. St. George enclosed her in a rock, where she was torn to pieces by spirits. (Seven Champions of Christendom, part i.)

Kam

Crooked. (Erse kaam, squmteyed.) Clean Kam, perverted into Kim Kam, means wholly awry, clean from the purpose.

“This is clean kam — merely awry.”

Shakespeare: Coriolanus, iii. 1.

Kama

The Hindu god of love. His wife is Rati (voluptuousness ), and he is represented as riding on sparrow, holding in his hand a bow of flowers and five arrows (i.e. the five senses).

Kami

The celestial gods of the first mythical dynasty of Japan, the demi—gods of the second dynasty, the spiritual princes, anyone sainted or deified; and now about equal to our lord, a title of respect paid to princes, nobles, ministers, and governors.

Kamsin

A simoom or samiel, a hot, dry, southerly wind, which prevails in Egypt and the deserts of Africa.

Kansas

U.S. America. So named from the Konsos, an Indian tribe of the locality.

Kansas

Bleeding Kansas. So called because it was the place where that sanguinary strife commenced which was the prelude of the Civil War of America. According to the Missouri Compromise made in 1820, slavery was never to be introduced into any western region lying beyond 36 30' north latitude. In 1851, the

slave—holders of Missouri, by a local act, pushed their west frontier to the river—bank, and slave lords, with their slaves, took possession of the Kansas hunting grounds, declaring that they would “lynch, hang, tar and feather any white—livered abolitionist who presumed to pollute the soil.” In 1854, thirty New England

free—soilers crossed the river in open boats; they were soon joined by others, and dared the slavers to carry out their threats. Many a fierce battle was fought, but in 1861 Bleeding Kansas was admitted into the Union as a free state. (W. Hepworth Dixon: New America, vol. i. chap. 2.)

Karaites

[Scripturists ]. A Jewish sect that adhered to the letter of the Scriptures, rejecting all oral traditions. They abhorred the Talmud, and observed the Sabbath with more rigour than even the rabbinists.

Karma The Buddhist's judgment, which determines at death the future state of the deceased. It is also their flat on actions, pronouncing them to be meritorious or otherwise.

In Theosophy, it means the unbroken sequence of cause and effect; each effect being, in its turn, the cause of a subsequent effect. It is a Sanscrit word, meaning “action” or “sequence.”

“The laws which determine the physical attribution, condition of life, intellectual capacities, and so forth, of the new body, to which the Ego is drawn by affinities ... are ... in Buddhism [called] Karma.” — Nineteenth Century, June, 1893, p. 1025.

Karmathians

A Mohammedan sect which rose in Irak in the ninth Christian century. Its founder was Ahmad, a poor labourer who assumed the name of Karmat, and professed to be a prophet.

Karoon

or Korah. The riches of Karoon (Arabic proverb). Korach, according to the commentators of the Koran, was the most wealthy and most beautiful of all the Israelites. It is said that he built a large palace, which he overlaid with gold, and that the doors of his palace were solid gold (Sale: Koran). He was the Croesus of the Mahometans, and guarded his wealth in a labyrinth.

Karrows

A set of gamblers in Ireland, who played away even the clothes on their backs.

“The karrows plafe awaie mantle and all to the bare skin, and then trusse themselves in straw or leaves. They wait for passengers in the highwaie, invite them to game upon the greene and aske no more but companions to make them sport. For default of other stuffe they pawne their glibs, the nailes of their fingers and toes, their dimissaries which they leefe or redeeme at the courtesy of the winner.” — Stanihurst.

Kaswa

(Al). Mahomet's favourite camel, which fell on its knees in adoration when “the prophet” delivered the last clause of the Koran to the assembled multitude at Mecca. This is one of the dumb creatures admitted into the Moslem paradise. (See Paradise.)

Katerfelto

A generic name for a quack or charlatan. Katerfelto was a celebrated quack or influenza doctor. He was a tall man, who dressed in a long black gown and square cap. In 1782 he exhibited in London his solar microscope, and created immense excitement by showing the infusoria of [muddy] water. The doctor used to aver that he was the greatest philosopher since the time of Sir Isaac Newton.

“And Katerfelto with his hair on end,

At his own wonders wondering for his bread.” Cowper: The Task: The Winter Evening (1782).

Katharine

or Katharina. Daughter of Baptista, a rich gentleman of Padua. She was very beautiful, but a shrew. Petruchio of Verona married her, and so subdued her imperious temper by his indomitable will, that she became the model of a “submissive wife,” and gave Bianca, her sister, most excellent advice respecting the duty of submission. (Shakespeare; Taming of the Shrew.)

The Katherine de' Medici of China. Voochee, widow of King Tae—tsôg.

Kathay'

China.

Katmir

(See Ketmir.)

Kay

or Sir Key. Son of Sir Ector, and foster—brother of King Arthur. In Arthurian romance, this seneschal of England is represented as a rude and boastful knight, the first to attempt any achievement, but very rarely successful.

Kayward The hare, in the tale of Reynard the Fox. (The word means “Country—guardian.”)

Keber'

A Persian seet (generally rich merchants), distinguished by their beards and dress. When one of them dies, a cock is driven out of the poultry yard; if a fox seizes it, it is a proof that the soul of the deceased is saved. If this experiment does not answer, they prop the dead body against a wall, and if the birds peck out the right eye first, the Keber is gone to heaven; if the left eye, the carcase is flung into the ditch, for the Keber was a reprobate.

Kebla

The point of adoration; i.e. the quarter or point of the compass towards which persons turn when they worship. The Persian fire—worshippers turn to the east, the place of the rising sun; the Jews to Jerusalem, the city of the King of kings; the Mahometans to Mecca; the early Christians turned to the “east,” and the

“communion table” even of the “Reformed Church” is placed at the east end of the building, whenever this arrangement is practicable. Any object of passionate desire.

Kebla—Noma

The pocket compass carried by Mussulmans to direct them which way to turn when they pray. (See above.)

Kedar's Tents

This world. Kedar was Arabia Deserta, and the phrase Kedar's tents means houses in the wilderness of this world.

“Ah me! ah me! that

In Kedar's tents here stay;

No place like that on high;

Lord, thither guide my way.”

Crossman.

Kederli

The St. George of Mahometan mythology. He slew a monstrous dragon to save a damsel exposed to its fury, and, having drunk of the water of life, rode about the world to aid those warriors who invoked him. This tradition is exactly parallel to that of St. George, and explains the reason why the one is the field—word with the Turks, and the latter with the ancient English.

Kedjeree'

A stew of rice, vegetables, eggs, butter, etc. A corruption of the Indian word Khichri (a medley or hotch—potch). The word has been confounded with a place so called, forty miles south—west of Calcutta, on the Hooghly river.

Keel—hauling

or —haling. A long, troublesome, and vexatious examination or repetition of annoyances from a landlord or government official. In the Dutch and many other navies, delinquents were, at one time, tied to a

yard—arm with weights on their feet, and dragged by a rope under the keel of a ship, in at one side and out at the other. The result was often fatal.

Keelman (A). A bargeman. (See Old Mortality [Introduction], the bill of Margaret Chrystale: “To three chappins of yell with Sandy the keelman, 9d.”)

Keelson

or Kelson. A beam running lengthwise above the keel of a ship, and bolted to the middle of the floor—frames, in order to stiffen the vessel. The word son is the Swedish svin, and Norwegian svill, a sill.)

Keening

A weird lamentation for the dead, common in Galway. The coffin is carried to the burying place, and while it is carried three times round, the mourners go to the graves of their nearest kinsfolk and begin keening, after which they smoke.

Keep Down

(To). To prevent another from rising to an independent position; to keep in subjection.

Keep House

(To). To maintain a separate establishment; to act as house—keeper.

To keep open house. To admit all comers to hospitable entertainment.

Keep Touch

To keep faith; the exact performance of an agreement, as, “To keep touch with my promise” (More). The idea seems to be embodied in the proverb, “Seeing is believing, but feeling is naked truth.”

“And trust me on my truth,

If thou keep touch with me,

My dearest friend, as my own heart,

Thou shalt right welcome be.”

Songs of the London Prentices, p. 37.

Keep Up

(To). To continue, as, “to keep up a discussion;” to maintain, as, “to keep up one's courage;” to continue pari passu, as “Keep up with the rest.”

Keep at Arm's Length

(To). To prevent another from being too familiar.

Keep Body and Soul Together

(To). To struggle to maintain life; to continue life. Thus we say, “It is as much as I can do to keep body and soul together;” and “To keep body and soul together” we did so and so.

Keep Company with

(To). To associate with someone of another sex with a view of marriage. The phrase is almost confined to household servants and persons of a similar status.

Keep Good Hours

(To). To retire to bed somewhat early. To keep bad hours is to sit up late at night.

Keep it Dark

Keep it as a secret; hide it from public sight or knowledge; do not talk about it.

Keep One's Countenance

(To). To refrain from laughing; to preserve one's gravity.

Keep One's Own Counsel

(To). To be reticent of one's own affairs or plans.

Keep your Breath to Cool your Porridge

Look after your own affairs, and do not put your spoke in another person's wheel. Husband your strength to keep your own state safe and well, and do not waste it on matters in which you have really no concern. Don't scold or rail at me, but look at home.

Keep your Powder Dry

Keep prepared for action; keep your courage up.

“Go forth and conquer, Strephon mine,

This kiss upon your lips retaining;

A precept that is also thine

For bids the teardrop hot and straining.

Were Mars and Venus, you and I,

And both must `keep our powder dry.' “

Sims: Dagonet Ballads (In Love and War).

Keepers

A staff of men employed by Irish landlords in 1843, etc., to watch the crops and prevent their being smuggled off during the night. They were resisted by the Molly Maguires.

Kehama

A Hindu rajah who obtains and sports with supernatural powers. (Southey Curse of Kehama.)

Kelpie

or Kelpy. A spirit of the waters in the form of a horse, in Scottish mythology. Not unlike the Irish Phooka. (See Fairy.)

“Every lake has its Kelpie or Water—horse, often seen by the shepherd sitting upon the brow of a rock, dashing along the surface of the deep, or browsing upon the pasture on its verge.” — Graham: Sketches of Perthshire.

Kelso Convoy

(A). A step and a half over the door—stone or threshold.

“It's no expected your honour suld leave the land; it's just a Kelso convoy, a step and a half ower the door staue.” — Sir W. Scott: The Antiquary, chap. xxx.

Kema

The books containing the secrets of the genii, who, infatuated with love, revealed the marvels of nature to men, and were banished out of heaven. According to some etymologists, the word chemistry is derived from this word. (Zozime Panopolite.)

Kempfer—Hausen

The nom de plume of Robert Pearce Gillies, one of the speakers in the Noctes Ambrosia'næ. (Blackwood's Magazine.)

Kempis

The authorship of the work entitled Dc Imitatione Christi, has afforded as much controversy as the author of Letters of Junius. In 1604, a Spanish Jesuit discovered a manuscript copy by the Abbot John Gersen or Gesen; and since then three competitors have had angry and wordy defenders, viz. Thomas à Kempis, J. Charlier de Gerson, Chancellor of the University of Paris, and the Abbot Gersen. M. Malou gives his verdict in favour of the first.

Ken

or Kiun. An Egyptian goddess similar to the Roman Venus. She is represented as standing on a lion, and holding two serpents in one hand and a flower in the other. (See Amos v. 26.)

Kendal Green

Green cloth for foresters; so called from Kendal, Westmoreland, famous at one time for this manufacture. Kendal green was the livery of Robin Hood and his followers. In Rymer's Faedera (ii. 83) is a letter of protection, dated 1331, and granted by Edward III. to John Kempe of Flanders, who established cloth—weaving in the borough. Lincoln was also famous at one time for dyeing green.

“How couldst thou know these men in Kendal green, when it was so dark thou couldst not see thy hand?” — Shakespeare: 1 Henry IV., ii. 4.

Kenelm

(St.) was murdered at Clente—in—Cowbage, near Winchelcumb, in Gloucestershire. The murder, says Roger of Wendover, was miraculously notified at Rome by a white dove, which alighted on the altar of St.

Peter's, bearing in its beak a scroll with these words:

“In Clent cow pasture under a thorn,

Of head bereft, lies Kenelm king—born.”

Kenna

(See Kensington .)

Kenna Quhair

[I know not where ]. Scotch for terra incognita.

Kenne

A stone said to be formed in the eye of a stag, and used as an antidote to poison.

Kennedy

A poker, or to kill with a poker; so called from a man of that name who was killed by a poker. (Dictionary of Modern Slang.)

Kennel

A dog's house, from the Latin canis (a dog), Italian canile; but kennel (a gutter), from the Latin canna (a cane, whence canalis), our canal, channel, etc.

Kenno

This was a large rich cheese, made by the women of the family with a great affectation of secrecy, and was intended for the refreshment of the gossips who were in the house at the “canny minute" of the birth of a child. Called Ken—no because no one was supposed to know of its existence — certainly no male being, not excepting the master of the house. After all had eaten their fill on the auspicious occasion, the rest was divided among the gossips and taken home. The Kenno is supposed to be a relic of the secret rites of the Bona Dea.

Kensington

O'beron, king of the fairies, held his royal seat in these gardens, which were fenced round with spells “interdicted to human touch;” but not unfrequently his thievish elves would rob the human mother of her babe, and leave in its stead a sickly changeling of the elfin race. Once on a time it so fell out that one of the infants fostered in these gardens was Albion, the son of “Albion's royal blood;” it was stolen by a fairy named Milkah. When the boy was nineteen, he fell in love with Kenna, daughter of King Oberon, and Kenna vowed that none but Albion should ever be her chosen husband. Oberon heard her when she made this vow, and instantly drove the prince out of the garden, and married the fairy maid to Azuriel, a fairy of great beauty and large possessions, to whom Holland Park belonged. In the meantime. Albion prayed to Neptune for revenge, and the sea—god commanded the fairy O'riel, whose dominion lay along the banks of the Thames, to espouse the cause of his lineal offspring. Albion was slain in the battle by Azuriel, and Neptune in revenge crushed the whole empire of Oberon. Being immortal, the fairies could not be destroyed, but they fled from the angry sea—god, some to the hills and some to the dales, some to the caves and others to river—banks. Kenna alone remained, and tried to revive her lover by means of the herb moly. No sooner did the juice of this wondrous herb touch the body than it turned into a snow—drop. When Wise laid out the grounds for the Prince of Orange, Kenna planned it “in a morning dream,” and gave her name to the town and garden. (Tickell: Kensington Gardens.)

Kent

(Latin, Cantium), the territory of the Kantii or Cantii; Old British, Kant, a corner or headland). In the reign of Queen Elizabeth Kent was so notorious for highway robbery, that the word signified a “nést of thieves.”

“Some bookes are arrogant and impudent;

So are most thieves in Christendome and Kent.” Taylor, the Water Poet (1630)

A man of Kent. One born east of the Medway. These men went out with green boughs to meet the Conqueror, and obtained in consequence a confirmation of their ancient privileges from the new king. They call themselves the invicti. The hops of East Kent are liked best.

A Kentish man. A resident of West Kent.

Holy Maid of Kent. Elizabeth Barton, who pretended to the gift of prophecy and power of miraches. Having denounced the doom and speedy death of Henry VIII. for his marriage with Anne Boleyn, she was executed. Sir Walter Scott (Abbot, xiii.) calls her “The Nun of Kent.” (See Fair [Maid of Kent]).

Kent's Hole A large cave in the limestone rock near Torquay, Devon.

Kent Street Ejectment

Taking away the street—door; a method devised by the landlords of Kent Street, Southwark, when their tenants were more than a fortnight in arrears.

Kentish Fire

Rapturous applause, or three times three and one more. The expression originated with Lord Winchelsea, who proposed the health of the Earl of Roden, on August 15th, 1834, and added, “Let it be given with the `Kentish Fire.' ” In proposing another toast he asked permission to bring his “Kentish Artillery” again into action. Chambers, in his Encyclopædia, says it arose from the protracted cheers given in Kent to the

No—Popery orators in 1828—1829.

Kentish Moll

Mary Carlton, nicknamed The German Princess. She was transported to Jamaica in 1671; but, returning without leave, she was hanged at Tyburn, January 22nd, 1673.

Kentishmen's Tails

The men of Kent are born with tails, as a punishment for the murder of Thomas á Becket.
(Lambert: Peramb.)

“For Becket's sake, Kent always shall have tails.” Andrew Marvel.

Kentucky

(U.S. America), so called in 1782, from its principal river. It was admitted into the union in 1792. The nickname of the inhabitants is Corncrackers. Indian Shawnoese Kentuckee = “head or long river.”

Kepler's Fairy

The fairy which guides the planets. Kepler said that each planet was guided in its elliptical orbit by a resident angel.

Kepler's Laws

(Johann Kepler, 1571—1630): (1) That the planets describe ellipses, and that the centre of the sun is in one of the foci. (2) That every planet so moves that the line drawn from it to the sun describes equal areas in equal times. (3) That the squares of the times of the planetary revolutions are as the cubes of their mean distances from the sun.

Kerchief of Plesaunce

An embroidered cloth presented by a lady to her knight to wear for her sake. The knight was bound to place it in his helmet.

Kerna

A kind of trumpet used by Tamerlane, the blast of which might be heard for miles.

Kernel

(Anglo—Saxon, cyrnel, a diminutive of corn; seed in general), whence acorn (the ác or oak corn).

Kersey

A coarse cloth, usually ribbed, and woven from long wool; said to be so named from Kersey, in Suffolk, where it was originally made.

Kerseymere

A corruption of Casimir, a man's name. A twilled woollen cloth made in Abbeville, Amiens, Elbeuf, Louviers, Rheims, Sedan, and the West of England. (French, casimir, Spanish casimiro or casimiras.)

Kerzereh

or Kerzrah. A flower which grows in Persia. It is said, if anyone in June or July inhales the hot south wind which has blown over this flower he will die.

Kesora

The female idol adored in the temple of Juggernaut. Its head and body are of sandalwood; its eyes two diamonds, and a third diamond is suspended round its neck; its hands are made entirely of small pearls, called perles á l'once; its bracelets are of pearls and rubies, and its robe is cloth of gold.

Kestrel

A hawk of a base breed, hence a worthless fellow. Also used as an adjective.

“No thought of honour ever did assay

His baser brest; but in his kestrell kynd

A pleasant veine of glory he did find ...”

Spenser: Faerie Queene, book ii, canto iii. 3.

Ketch

A public executioner, or hangman. [Eng.] catch to seize, ketch a hangman

Jack Ketch

The manor of Tyburn was formerly held by Richard Jaquett, where felons for a long time were executed; from whence we have Jack Ketch. Lloyd's MS., British Museum.

Monmouth then accosted John Ketch, the executioner, a wretch who had butchered many brave and noble victims, and whose name has, during a century and a half, been vulgarly given to all who have succeeded him in his odious office. Macaulay.

Ketch

A kind of two—masted vessel. Bomb—ketches were much used in the last century wars.

Ketchup

A corruption of the Japanese. Kitjap, a condiment sometimes sold as soy, but not equal to it.

Ketmir

or Katmir. The dog of the Seven Sleepers. Sometimes called Al Rakim. (Sale's Koran; xviii. n.)

Kettle

(A), a watch. A tin kittle is a silver watch. A red kittle is a gold watch. “Kettle,” or rather kittle, in slang language is a corrupt rendering of the words to—tick read backwards. (Compare Anglo—Saxon cetel, a kettle, with citel—ian, to tickle.)

Thor's great kettle. The god Thor wanted to brew some beer, but not having a vessel suited for the purpose in Valhalla, stole the kettle of the giant Hymer. (Scandinavian mythology.)

Kettle of Fish

A fête—champêtre in which salmon is the chief dish provided. In these pic—nics, a large caldron being provided, the party select a place near a salmon river. Having thickened some water with salt to the consistency of brine, the salmon is put therein and boiled; and when fit for eating, the company partake thereof in gipsy fashion. Some think the discomfort of this sort of pic—nic gave rise to the phrase “A pretty kettle of fish.” (See Kittle Of Fish.)

“The whole company go to the waterside today to eat a kettle of fish.”— Sir Walter Scott: St. Ronan's Well, xii.

Kettledrum

A large social party, originally applied to a military party in India, where drum—heads served for tables. On Tweedside it signifies a “social party,” met together to take tea from the same tea—kettle. (See Drum, Hurricane.)

Kettledrum, a drum in the shape of a kiddle or fish—basket.

Kettledrummle

(Gabriel.) A Covenanter preacher in Sir Walter Scott's Old Mortality.

Kevin

(St.), like St. Senanus (q.v.), retired to an island where he vowed no woman should ever land. Kathleen loved the saint, and tracked him to his retirement, but the saint hurled her from a rock. Kathleen died, but her ghost rose smiling from the tide, and never left the place while the saint lived. A bed in the rock at Glendalough (Wicklow) is shown as the bed of St. Kevin. Thomas Moore has a poem on this tradition. (Irish Melodies, iv.)

Kex

hemlock. Tennyson says in The Princess, “Though the rough kex break the starred mosaic,” though weeds break the pavement. Nothing breaks a pavement like the growth of grass or lichen through it. (Welsh, cecys, hemlock; French, ciguë; Latin, cicuta.)

Key

(See Kay)

Key—cold

Deadly cold, lifeless. A key, on account of its coldness, is still sometimes employed to stop bleeding at the nose.

“Poor key—cold figure of a holy king!

Pale ashes of the house of Lancaster!

Thou bloodless remnant of that royal blood!” Shakespeare: Richard III., i. 2.

Key—stone

The central or topmost stone of an arch. This in some styles is made different in size from the other voussoirs, or projects, or is decorated with carving.

Keystone State, the State of Pennsylvania; -- so called from its having been the central State of the Union at the formation of the Constitution.

Key and the Bible

(A). Employed to discover whether plaintiff or defendant is guilty. The Bible is opened either at Ruth, chap. i., or at the 51st Psalm; and a door—key is so placed inside the Bible, that the handle projects beyond the book. The Bible, being tied with a piece of string, is then held by the fourth fingers of the accuser and defendant, who must repeat the words touched by the wards of the key. It is said, as the words are repeated, that the key will turn towards the guilty person, and the Bible fall to the ground.

Key of a Cipher

or of a romance. That which explains the secret or lays it open (“La clef d'un chiffre ” or “La clef d'un romance “).

Key of the Mediterranean

The fortress of Gibraltar; so called because it commands the entrance thereof.

Key of Russia

Smolensk, on the Dnieper.

Key of Spain

Ciudad Rodrigo, taken by the Duke of Wellington, who defeated the French there in 1812.

Keys

St. Sitha was a household servant in Lucca, Italy. At first her piety and her frequent ecstasies, during one of which angels completed her bread-baking for her, irritated her employers, but eventually her persevering devotion gained their respect.

A popular, but local, cult grew up on her death, spreading later to many other countries including England, although she was not formally canonized until the early 16th century.

Keys

of stables and cowhouses have not unfrequently, even at the present day, a stone with a hole through it and a piece of horn attached to the handle. This is a relic of an ancient superstition. The hag, halig, or holy stone was looked upon as a talisman which kept off the fiendish Mara or night—mare; and the horn was supposed to ensure the protection of the god of cattle, called by the Romans Pan.

Key as an emblem. (Anglo—Saxon, coeg.)

St. Peter is always represented in Christian art with two keys in his hand; they are consequently the insignia of the Papacy, and are borne saltire—wise, one of gold and the other of silver.

They are the emblems also of St. Servatius, St. Hippolytus, St. Geneviève. St. Petronilla, St. Osyth, St. Martha, and St. Germanus of Paris.

The Bishop of Winchester bears two keys and sword in saltire.

The bishops of St. Asaph, Gloucester, Exeter, and Peterborough bear two keys in saltire.

The Cross Keys. A public—house sign; the arms of the Archbishop of York. The key shall be upon his shoulder. He shall have the dominion. The ancient keys were instruments about a yard long, made of wood or metal. On public occasions the steward slung his key over his shoulder, as our

mace—bearers carry their mace. Hence, to have the key upon one's shoulder means to be in authority, to have the keeping of something. It is said of Eliakim, that God would lay upon his shoulder the key of the house of David (Isa. xxii. 22); and of our Lord that “the government should be upon His shoulder” (Isa. ix. 6). The chamberlain of the court used to bear a key as his insignia.

The power of the keys— i.e. the supreme authority vested in the pope as successor of St. Peter. The phrase is derived from St. Matt. xvi. 19. (Latin, Potestas clavium.

To throw the keys into the pit. To disclaim a debt; to refuse to pay the debts of a deceased husband. This refers to an ancient French custom. If a deceased husband did not leave his widow enough for her aliment and the payment of his debts, the widow was to throw the bunch of house—keys which she carried at her girdle into the grave, and this answered the purpose of a public renunciation of all further ties. No one after this could come on her for any of her late husband's debts.

Keys

(The House of). One of the three estates of the Isle of Man. The Crown in council, the governor and his council, and the House of Keys, constitute what is termed “the court of Tynwald.” The House of Keys consists of twenty—four representatives selected by their own body, vacancies are filled up by the House presenting to the governor “two of the eldest and worthiest men of the isle,” one of which the governor nominates. To them an appeal may be made against the verdicts of juries, and from their decision there is no appeal, except to the Crown in council. (Manx, kiare—as—feed, four—and—twenty.)

The governor and his council consists of the governor, the bishop, the attorney—general, two deemsters (or judges), the clerk of the rolls, the water bailiff, the archdeacon, and the vicar—general.

The House of Keys. The board of landed proprietors referred to above, or the house in which they hold their sessions.

Keyne

(St.). The well of St. Keyne, Cornwall, has a strange superstition attached to it, which is this: “If the bridegroom drinks therefrom before the bride, he will be master of his house; but if the bride gets the first draught, the grey mare will be the better horse.” Southey has a ballad on this tradition, and says the man left his wife at the church porch, and ran to the well to get the first draught; but when he returned his wife told him his labour had been in vain, for she had taken with her a “bottle of the water to church.”

Khedive d'Egypte

An old regal title revived by the sultan in 1867, who granted it to Ismael I., who succeeded as Pasha of Egypt in 1863. The title is higher than viceroy, but not so high as sultan. (Turkish, khidiv; Persian, khidiw, viceroy.) Pronounce ke—dive, in 2 syl.

Khorassan

[Region of the Sun ]. A province of Persia, anciently called Ariana.

The Veiled Prophet of Khorassan. Mokanna, a prophet chief, who, being terribly deformed, wore a veil under pretence of shading the dazzling light of his countenance.

“Terror seized her lest the love—light which encircled him should fade away, and leave him like the veiled prophet of Khorassan, a sinstained thing of clay”— Lady Hardy: A Casual Acquaintance.

Ki

A Chinese word, signifying age or period, generally applied to the ten periods preceding the first Imperial dynasty, founded B.C. 2205. It extended over some 300,000 years. The first was founded by Puon—ku

(highest eternity), and the last by Of—hi, surnamed Tien—Tse (son of heaven).

Kiak—Kiak

(god of gods). An idol worshipped in Pegu. This god is to sleep 6,000 years, and when he wakes the end of the world will come.

Kick (A). Sixpence. “Two—and—a—kick” = two shillings and sixpence. (Anglo—Saxon, cicel, a bit. In Jamaica a “bit” = sixpence, and generally it means the smallest silver coin in circulation; thus, in America, a “bit” is fourpence. We speak of a “threepenny bit.”)

“It is hard for thee to kick against the pricks” (Acts ix. 5; and xxvi. 14.) The proverb occurs in Pindar (2 Pythian Victories, v. 173), in Æschylos; (Agamemnon, 1,624), in Euripde (Bacchæ, 791), in Terence

(Phormio, i. ii. 27), in Ovid (Tristia, book ii. 15), etc.; but whether the reference is to an ox kicking when goaded, or a horse when pricked with the rowels of a spur, is not certain. The plural kentra seems to refer to more than one, and pros kentra cannot refer to a repetition of goad thrusts. Altogether, the rowels of a spur suit the phrase better than the single point of an ox—goad.

N.B. The Greek pros with an accusative is not = the Latin adversus, such a meaning would require a genitive case; it means in answer to, i.e. to kick when spurred or goaded.

More kicks than ha'pence. More abuse than profit. Called “monkey's allowance” in allusion to monkeys led about to collect ha'pence by exhibiting “their parts.” The poor brutes get the kicks if they do their parts in an unsatisfactory manner, but the master gets the ha'pence collected.

Quite the kick. Quite a dandy. The Italians call a dandy a chic. The French chic means knack, as avoir le chic, to have the knack of doing a thing smartly.

“I cocked my bat and twirled my stick,

And the girls they called me quite the kick.”

George Colman the Younger.

Kick Over the Traces

(To). Not to follow the dicta of a party leader, but to act independently; as a horse refusing to run in harness kicks over the traces.

“If the new member shows any inclination to kick over the traces, he will not be their member long.”— Newspaper paragraph, Feb., 1893.

Kick the Beam

(To). To be of light weight; to be of inferior consequence. When one pan of a pair of scales is lighter than the other, it flies upwards and is said to “kick the beam” [of the scales].

“The evil has eclipsed the good, and the scale, which before rested solidly on the ground, now kicks the beam.”— Gladstone.

Kick the Bucket

(To). A bucket is a pulley, and in Norfolk a beam. When pigs are killed, they are hung by their hind—legs on a bucket or beam, with their heads downwards, and oxen are hauled up by a pulley. To kick the bucket is to be hung on the balk or bucket by the heels.

Kick Up a Row

(To). To create a disturbance. “A pretty kick up” is a great disturbance. The phrase “To kick up the dust” explains the other phrases.

Kickshaws

Made dishes, odds and ends, formerly written “kickshose.” (French, quelque chose.)

Kicksy—wicksy

A horse that kicks and winces in impatience; figuratively, a wife (grey mare). Taylor, the water poet, calls it kicksie—winsie, but Shakespeare spells it kicky—wicky.

“He wears his honour in a box unseen

That hugs his kicky—wicky here at home,

Spending his manly marrow in her arms,

Which should sustain the bound and high curvet Of Mars's fiery steed.”

All's Well that Ends Well, ii. 3 (Globe ed.).

Kid

(A). A faggot or bundle of firewood. To kid is to bind up faggots. In the parish register of Kneelsal church there is the following item: “Leading kids to church, 2s. 6d.,” that is, carting faggots to church. (Welsh, cidys, faggots.)

Kid

(A). A young child. A facetious formation from the Anglo—Saxon ci[l]d, a child. The l is often silent, as in calm, half, golf, etc. At one time fault was pronounced fau't.

“`Are these your own kids?” I inquired presently. `Yes, two of them: I have six, you know.”'—

H. A. Beers: Century Magazine, June, 1883, p. 282.

Kidderminster Poetry

Coarse doggerel verse, like the coarse woollen manufacture of Kidderminster. The term was first used by Shenstone, who applied it to a Mr. C., of Kidderminster.

“Thy verses, friend, are Kidderminster stuff;

And I must own you've measured out enough.”

Kidnapper

(A). One who nabs or steals “kids” or young children.

“Swarms of kidnappers were busy in every northern town.”— J. B. McMaster: People of the United States, vol. ii. chap. x. p. 357.

Kidney

Men of another kidney or of the same kidney. The reins or kidneys were even by the Jews supposed to be the seat of the affections.

Kilda

(St.). The farthest of the western isles of Scotland.

Kildare

(2 syl.) is the Irish Kill dara, church of the oaks.

Kildare's Holy Fane Famous for the “Fire of St. Bridget,” which was inextinguishable, because the nuns never allowed it to go out. Every twentieth night St. Bridget returned to tend the fire. Part of the chapel of St. Bridget still remains, and is called “The Fire—house.”

“A pud Kildariam occurrit ignis Sanctæ Brigidæ quem inextinguebilem vocant.”— Giraldus Cambrensis: Hibernia, ii. 34.

Kilkenny

is the Gaelic Kill Kenny, church of St. Kenny or Canice.

Kilkenny Cats

Two cats fabled, in an Irish story, to have fought till nothing was left but their tails. It is probably a parable of a local contest between Kilkenny and Irishtown, which impoverished both towns.

(See Cat Proverbs .)

Kill

(A). The slaying of some animal, generally a bullock, tied up by hunters in a jungle, to allure to the spot and attract the attention of some wild beast (such as a lion, tiger, or panther) preparatory to a hunting party being arranged. As a tiger—kill, a panther—kill.

“A shikarie brought us the welcome tidings of a tiger—kill only a mile and a half from the camp. The next day there was no hunt, as the ground round the panther—kill was too unfavourable to permit of any hunting.”— Nineteenth Century, August, 1886.

Kill Two Birds with One Stone

(To). To effect some subsidiary work at the same time as the main object is being effected.

Killed by Inches

In allusion to divers ways of prolonging capital punishments in olden times; e.g.: (1) The

“iron coffin of Lissa.” The prisoner was laid in the coffin, and saw the iron lid creep slowly down with almost imperceptible movement — slowly, silently, but surely; on, on it came with relentless march, till, after lingering days and nights in suspense, the prisoner was at last as slowly crushed by the iron lid pressing on him.
(2) The “baiser de la Vierge” of Baden—Baden. The prisoner, blindfolded and fastened to a chain, was lowered by a windlass down a deep shaft from the top of the castle into the very heart of the rock on which it stands. Here he remained till he was conducted to the torture—chamber, and commanded “to kiss” the brazen statute of the “Virgin” which stood at the end of a passage; but immediately he raised his lips to give the kiss, down he fell through a trap—door on a wheel with spikes, which was set in motion by the fall.
(3) The “iron cages of Louis XI.” were so contrived that the victims might linger out for years; but whether they sat, stood, or lay down, the position was equally uncomfortable.
(4) The “chambre à crucer” was a heavy chest, short, shallow, and lined with sharp stones, in which the sufferer was packed and buried alive.
(5) The “bernicles” consisted of a mattress on which the victim was fastened by the neck, while his legs were crushed between two logs of wood, on the uppermost of which the torturer took his seat. This process continued for several days, till the sufferer died with the lingering torment. Many other modes of stretching out the torment of death might easily be added. (See Iron Maiden .)

Killed by Kindness

It is said that Draco, the Athenian legislator, met with his death from his popularity, being smothered in the theatre of Ægina; by the number of caps and cloaks showered on him by the spectators (B.C. 590).

Killing

Irresistible, overpowering, fascinating, or bewitching, so as to compel admiration and notice.

“Those eyes were made so killing.”

Pope: Rape of the Lock, v. 64.

A killing pace. Too hot or strong to last; exceptionally great; exhausting.

Killing—stone

in Louth. A stone probably used for human sacrifice.

Killing no Murder A tract written by Sexby, who was living in Holland at the time of its publication. Probably Sexby was paid for fathering it, and the real author was William Allan.

Kilmansegg

(Miss). An heiress of great expectations with an artificial leg of solid gold. (Thomas Hood A Golden Legend.)

Kilmarnock Cowls

Nightcaps. The Kilmarnock nightcaps were once celebrated all over Scotland.

Kilmarth Rocks

(Scotland). A pile of stones towering 28 feet in height, and overhanging more than 12 feet, like the tower of Pisa (Italy). (See Cheesewring .)

Kilwinning

in the county of Ayr, Scotland, the scene of the renowned tournament held in 1839 by the Earl of Eglinton. It was also the cradle of Freemasonry in Scotland.

Kin, Kind

“King. But now, my cousin Hamlet, and my son—

Ham. A little more than kin, and less than kind.” Shakespeare: Hamlet, i. 2.

Kin or kinsman is a relative by marriage or blood more distant than father and son. Kind means of the same sort of genus, as man—kind or man—genus.

Hamlet says he is more than kin to Claudius (as he was step—son), but still he is not of the same kind, the same class. He is not a bird of the same feather as the king.

Kindhart

A jocular name for a tooth—drawer; so called from a dentist of the name in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. Kindhart, the dentist, is mentioned by Rowland in his Letting of Humours — Blood in the Head—vaine. (1600); and in Rowley's New Wonder.

“Mistake me not, Kindhart

He calls you tooth—drawer.” Act. 1.1

King

The Anglo—Saxon cyng, cyning, from cyn a nation or people, and the termination— ing, meaning “of,” as “son of,” “chief of,” etc. In Anglo—Saxon times the king was elected on the Witena—gemòt, and was therefore the choice of the nation.

The factory king.

Richard Oastler, of Bradford, the successful advocate of the “Ten Hours' Bill” (1789—1861).

Ré Galantuomo (the gallant king), Victor Emmanuel of Italy (1820—1878)

King

A king should die standing. So said Louis XVIII. of France, in imitation of Vespasian, Emperor of Rome. (See Dying Sayings Louis XVIII.)

Like a king. When Porus, the Indian prince, was taken prisoner, Alexander asked him how he expected to be treated. “Like a king,” he replied; and Alexander made him his friend.

Pray aid of the king. When someone, under the belief that he has a right to the land, claims rent of the king's tenants, they appeal to the sovereign, or “pray aid of the king.”

King Ban

Father of Sir Launcelot du Lac. He died of grief when his castle was taken and burnt through the treachery of his seneschal. (Launcelot du Lac, 1494.)

King Cash

what the Americans call the “Almighty Dollar.”

“Now birth and rank and breeding

Hardly saved from utter smash,

Have been ousted, rather roughly,

By the onslaught of King Cash.

Truth (Christmas Number, 1892, p. 19.)

King Cole

(See Cole .)

King Cotton

Cotton, the staple of the Southern States of America, and the chief article of manufacture in England. The expression was first used by James H. Hammond in the Senate of the United States, in 1858. The great cotton manufacturers are called “cotton lords.”

King Estmere

(2 syl.) of England was induced by his brother Adler to go to King Adland, and request permission to pay suit to his daughter. King Adland replied that Bremor, King of Spain, had already proposed to her and been rejected; but when the lady was introduced to the English king she accepted him. King Estmere and his brother returned home to prepare for the wedding, but had not proceeded a mile when the king of Spain returned to press his suit, and threatened vengeance if it were not accepted. A page was instantly despatched to inform King Estmere, and request him to return. The two brothers in the guise of harpers rode into the hall of King Adland, when Bremor rebuked them, and bade them leave their steeds in the stable. A quarrel ensued, in which Adler slew “the sowdan,” and the two brothers put the retainers to flight. (Percy's Reliques, etc., series i. bk. i. 6.)

King Franconi

Joachim Murat; so called because he was once a mountebank like Franconi. (1767—1815.)

King Horn

or Childe Horn. The hero of a metrical romance by Mestre Thomas.

King Log

A roi fainéant, a king that rules in peace and quietness, but never makes his power felt. The allusion is to the fable of The Frogs desiring a King. (See Log .)

King—maker

Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick; so called because, when he sided with Henry VI., Henry was king; but when he sided with Edward IV., Henry was deposed and Edward was king. He was killed at the battle of Barnet. (1420—1471.)

King Mob

The “ignobile vulgus. “

King Pétaud

The court of King Pétaud. A kind of Alsatia, where all are talkers with no hearers, all are kings with no subjects, all are masters and none servants. There was once a society of beggars in France, the chief of whom called himself King Pétaud. (Latin, peto, to beg.)

King Ryence

of North Wales, sent a dwarf to King Arthur to say “he had overcome eleven kings, all of which paid him homage in this sort viz. they gave him their beards to purfell his mantle. He now required King Arthur to do likewise.” King Arthur returned answer, “My beard is full young yet for a purfell, but before it is long enough for such a purpose, King Ryence shall do me homage on both his knees.” (See Percy's Reliques, etc., series iii. book 1.)

Spenser says that Lady Briana loved a knight named Crudor, who refused to marry her till she sent him a mantle lined with the beards of knights and locks of ladies. To accomplish this, she appointed Maleffort, her seneschal, to divest every lady that drew near the castle of her locks, and every knight of his beard. (Faërie Queene, book vi. canto 1.)

King Stork

A tyrant that devours his subjects, and makes them submissive with fear and trembling. The allusion is to the fable of The Frogs desiring a King. (See Log .)

King—of—Arms

An officer whose duty it is to direct the heralds, preside at chapters, and have the jurisdiction of armoury. There are three kings—of—arms in England viz. Garter, Clarencieux, and Norroy; one in Scotland viz. Lyon; and one in Ireland, called Ulster.

Bath King—of—Arms is no member of the college, but takes precedence next after Garter. The office was created in 1725 for the service of the Order of the Bath. (See Heralds.)

King of Bark

Christopher III. of Scandinavia, who, in a time of great scarcity, had the bark of birchwood mixed with meal for food. (Fifteenth century.)

King of Bath Richard Nash, generally called Beau Nash, who was leader of fashion and master of the ceremonies at that city for some fifty—six years. He was ultimately ruined by gambling. (1674—1761.)

King of Beasts

The lion.

King of Dalkey

A burlesque officer, like the Mayor of Garratt, the Mayor of the Pig Market, and the Mayor of the Bull—ring (q.v.).

Dalkey is a small island in St. George's Channel, near the coast of Ireland, a little to the south of Dublin Bay.

King of Khorassan

So Anvari, the Persian poet of the twelfth century, is called.

King of Metals

Gold, which is not only the most valuable of metals, but also is without its peer in freedom from alloy. It is got without smelting; wherever it exists it is visible to the eye; and it consorts with little else than pure silver. Even with this precious alloy, the pure metal ranges from sixty to ninety—nine per cent.

King of Misrule

Sometimes called LORD, and sometimes ABBOT, etc. At Oxford and Cambridge one of the Masters of Arts superintended both the Christmas and Candlemas sports, for which he was allowed a fee of 40s. These diversions continued till the Reformation. Polydore Vergil says of the feast of Misrule that it was

“derived from the Roman Saturnalia,” held in December for five days (17th to 22nd). The Feast of Misrule lasted twelve days.

“If we compare our Bacchanalian Christmases and New Year—tides with these Saturnalia and Feasts of Janus, we shall finde such near affinitye between them both in regard of time ... and in their manner of solemnising ... that wee must needs conclude the one to be the very ape or issue of the other.”— Prynne: Histrio—Mastix.

King of Painters

A title assumed by Parrhasios, the painter, a contemporary of Zeuxis. Plutarch says he wore a purple robe and a golden crown. (Flourished 400 B.C.)

King of Preachers

Louis Bourdaloue, a French clergyman (1632—1704).

King of Rome

A title conferred by Napoleon I. on his son on the day of his birth. More generally called the Duke of Reichstadt (1811—1832).

King of Shreds and Patches

In the old mysteries Vice used to be dressed as a mimic king in a parti—coloured suit. (Shakespeare: Hamlet, iii. 4.) The phrase is metaphorically applied to certain literary operatives who compile books for publishers, but supply no originality of thought or matter.

King of Spain's Trampeter

(The). A donkey. A pun on the word don, a Spanish magnate.

King of Terrors

Death.

King of Waters

The river Amazon, in South America.

King of Yvetot

(pron. Ev—to). A man of mighty pretensions but small merits. Yvetot is near Rouen, and was once a seigneurie, the possessors of which were entitled kings— a title given them in 534 by Clotaire I., and continued far into the fourteenth century.

“Il était un roi d'Yvetot,

Peu connu dans l'histoire;

Se levant tard, se couchant tot,

Dormant fort bien sans gloire;

Et couronne par Jeanneton

D'un simple bonnet de cotton,

Dit on:

Oh! oh! oh! oh! Ah! ah! ah! ah!

Quel bon petite roi c'était; la! la! la!”

A king there was, `roi d'Yvetot' clept, Put little known in story, Went soon to bed, till daylight slept, And soundly without glory; His royal brow in cotton cap Would Janet, when he took his nap, Enwrap. Oh! oh! oh! oh; Ah! ah! ah! ah! A famous king he! La! la! la! E. C. B.

King of the Bean

(roi de la fève). The Twelfth—night king: so called because he was chosen by distributing slices of Twelfth—cake to the children present, and the child who had the slice with the bean in it was king of the company for the night. This sport was indulged in till the Reformation, even at the two universities.

King of the Beggars

or Gipsies. Bamfylde Moore Carew, a noted English vagabond (1693—1770).

King of the Forest

The oak, which not only braves the storm, but fosters the growth of tender parasites under its arms.

King of the Herrings

(The). The Chimæra, or sea—ape, a cartilaginous fish which accompanies a shoal of herrings in their migrations.

King of the Jungle

(The). A tiger.

King of the Peak

(The). Sir George Vernon.

King of the Sea

(The). The herring.

“The head of an average—sized whale is from fifteen to sixteen feet [about one—third the length], and the lips open some six or eight feet; yet to such a mouth there is scarcely any throat, not sufficiently large to allow a herring to pass down it. This little scaly fellow [the herring], some fourteen inches in length, would choke a monster whale, and is hence called `the king of the sea.”'— C. Thomson: Autobiography, p. 132.

King of the Teign

Baldrick of South Devon, son of Eri, who long defended his territory against Algar, a lawless chief.

King of the World

(Shah—Jehan). The title assumed by Khorrum Shah, third son of Selim Jehan—Ghir, and fifth of the Mogul emperors of Delhi.

King of the World

So the Caledonians, in Ossian's time, called the Roman emperor.

King Chosen by the Neighing of a Horse

(A). Darius. (See Horse : A horse wins a kingdom.)

King Over the Water

(The). The Young Pretender, or Chevalier Charles Edward.

“My father so far compromised his loyalty as to announce merely `The king,' as his first toast after dinner, instead of the emphatic `King George.' ... Our guest made a motion with his glass, so as to pass it over the water—decanter which stood beside him, and added, `Over the

water.”'— Sir W. Scott: Redgauntlet, letter v.

King's

[or Queen's ] Bench. This was originally the Aula Regia, which followed the king in all his travels, and in which he occupied the lit de justice. In the absence of the sovereign the judges were supreme. Of course there is no lit de justice or bench for the sovereign in any of our law courts now.

King's Cave

Opposite to Campbelton; so called because it was here that King Robert Bruce and his retinue lodged when they landed on the mainland from the Isle of Arran. (Statistical Account of Scotland, v. p. 167, article “Arran.”)

King's Chair

A seat made by two bearers with their hands. On Candlemas Day the children of Scotland used to bring their schoolmaster a present in money, and the boy who brought the largest sum was king for the nonce. When school was dismissed, the “king” was carried on a seat of hands in procession, and the seat was called the “king's chair.”

King's—Crag

Fife, in Scotland. Called “king” because Alexander III. of Scotland was killed there.

“As he was riding in the dusk of the evening along the sea—coast of Fife, betwixt.

Burnt—island and King—horn, he approached too near the brink of the precipicë, and his horse, starting or stumbling, he was thrown over the rock and killed on the spot ... The people of the country still point out the very spot where it happened, and which is called `The King's

Crag.”'— Sir Walter Scott: Tales of a Grandfather, vi.

King's Cross

Up to the accession of George IV. this locality in London was called “Battle Bridge,” and had an infamous notoriety. In 1821 some speculators built there a number of houses, and, at the suggestion of Mr. Bray, changed the name.

King's Evil

Scrofula; so called from a notion which prevailed from the reign of Edward the Confessor to that of Queen Anne that it could be cured by the royal touch. The Jacobites considered that the power did not descend to William III. and Anne because the “divine” hereditary right was not fully possessed by them, but the office remained in our Prayer—Book till 1719. Prince Charles Edward, when he claimed to be Prince of Wales, touched a female child for the disease in 1745; but the last person touched in England was Dr. Johnson, in 1712, when only thirty months old, by Queen Anne. The French kings laid claim to the same divine power even from the time of Anne of Clovis, A.D. 481, and on Easter Sunday, 1686, Louis XIV. touched 1,600 persons, using these words: “Le roy te touche, Dieu te guerisse. ” The practice was introduced by Henry VII. of presenting the person “touched” with a small gold or silver coin, called a touchpiece. The one presented to Dr. Johnson has St. George and the Dragon on one side and a ship on the other; the legend of the former is Soli deo gloria, and of the latter Anna D:G.M.BR.F:ET.H. REG. (Anne, by the Grace of God, of Great Britain, France, and Ireland Queen.

We are told that Charles II. touched 92,107 persons. The smallest number in one year was 2,983, in 1669; and the largest number was in 1684, when many were trampled to death. (See Macaulay's History of England, chap. xiv.) John Brown, a royal surgeon, had to superintended the ceremony. (See Macbeth, iv. 3.)

King's Keys

The crow—bars, hatchets, and hammers used by sheriffs' officers to force doors and locks. (Law phrase.)

“The door, framed to withstand attacks from exciseman, constables, and other personages, considered to use the king's keys ... set his efforts at defiance.”— Sir W. Scott: Redgauntlet, chap. xix.

King's Men The 78th Foot; so called from their motto, “Cuidich'r Rhi ” (Help the king). It was raised by Kenneth Mackenzie, Earl of Seaforth, in 1777, and called the Seaforth. Highlanders. In 1783 it became the 72nd Foot. From 1830 to 1881 it was called the “Duke of Albany's Highlanders”; and in 1881 it was made the 2nd Battalion of the “Seaforth Highlanders (Rossshire Buffs), the Duke of Albany's.”

King's Mess

(The). An extra mess of rice boiled with milk— or of almonds, peas, or other pulse— given to the monks of Melrose Abbey by Robert [Bruce], the feast to be held on January 10th, and 100 being set aside for the purpose; but the monks were bound to feed on the same day fifteen poor men, and give to each four ells of broad cloth or six ells of narrow cloth, with a pair of shoes or sandals.

King's Oak

(The). The oak under which Henry VIII. sat, in Epping Forest, while Anne (Boleyn) was being executed.

King's Picture

Money; so called because coin is stamped with “the image” of the reigning sovereign.

King's Quhair

King's book (James I.). “Cahier” is a copybook.

King's Cheese goes half in Paring

A king's income is half consumed by the numerous calls on his purse.

King's Hanoverian White Horse

(The). The 8th Foot; called the “King's Hanoverian” for their service against the Pretender in 1715, and called the “White Horse” from their badge; now called the “Liverpool Regiment.”

King's Own Scottish Borderers

(The). Raised by Leven when Claver—house rode out of Edinburgh.

Kings

Of the 2,550 sovereigns who have hitherto reigned, 300 have been overthrown.

134 have been assassinated.

123 have been taken captive in war.

108 have been executed.

100 have been slain in battle.

64 have been forced to abdicate.

28 have committed suicide.

25 have been tortured to death.

23 have become mad or imbecile.

Kings

etc., of England. Much foolish superstition has of late been circulated respecting certain days supposed to be “fatal” to the crowned heads of Great Britain. The following list may help to discriminate truth from fiction:

[From means the regnal year commenced from: To is the day of death.]

WILLIAM L, from Monday, December 25th, 1066, to Thursday, September 9th, 1087; WILLIAM II., from Sunday, September 26th, 1087, to Thursday, August 2nd, 1100; HENRY I., from Sunday, August 5th, 1100, to Sunday, December 1st, 1135; STEPHEN, from Thursday, December 26th, 1135, to Monday, October 25th, 1154.

HENRY II., from Sunday, December 19th, 1154, to Thursday, July 6th, 1189; RICHARD I., from Sunday, September 3rd, 1189, to Tuesday, April 6th, 1199; JOHN, from Thursday, May 27th, 1199, to Wednesday, October 19th, 1216; HENRY III., from Saturday, October 28th, 1216, to Wednesday, November 16th, 1272; EDWARD I., from Sunday, November 20th, 1272, to Friday, July 7th, 1307; EDWARD II., from Saturday, July 8th, 1307, to Tuesday, January 20th, 1327; EDWARD III., from Sunday, January 25th, 1327 (N.S.), to Sunday, June 21st, 1377; RICHARD II., from Monday, June 22nd, 1377, to Monday, September 29th, 1399; HENRY

IV., from Tuesday, September 30th, 1399, to Monday, March 20th, 1413; HENRY V., from Tuesday, March

21st, 1413, to Monday, August 31st, 1422; HENRY VI., from Tuesday, September 1st, 1422, to Wednesday, March 4th, 1461; EDWARD IV., from Wednesday, March 4th, 1461, to Wednesday, April 9th, 1483; EDWARD

V., from Wednesday, April 9th, 1483, to Sunday, June 22nd, 1483; RICHARD III., from Thursday, June 26, 1483, to Monday, August 22nd, 1485.

HENRY VII., from Monday, August 22nd, 1485, to Saturday, April 21st, 1509; HENRY VIII., from Sunday, April 22nd, 1509, to Friday, January 28th, 1547; EDWARD VI., from Friday, January 28th, 1547, to Thursday, July 6th, 1553; MARY, from Thursday, July 6th, 1553, to Thursday, November 17th, 1558; ELIZABETH, from Thursday, November 17th, 1558, to Thursday, March 24th, 1603.

JAMES I., from Thursday, March 24th, 1603, to Sunday, March 27, 1625; CHARLES I., from Sunday, March 27th, 1625, to Tuesday, January 30th, 1649; [Commonwealth— CROMWELL, died Friday, September 3—13, 1658;] CHARLES II., restored Tuesday, May 29th, 1660, died Friday, February 6th, 1685; JAMES II., from Tuesday, February 6th, 1685, to Saturday, December 11th, 1688; WILLIAM III., from Wednesday, February 13th, 1689, to Monday, March 8th, 1702; ANNE, from Monday, March 8th, 1702, to Sunday, August 1st, 1714. (Both O.S.)

GEORGE I., from Sunday, August 1st, 1714, to Saturday, June 11th, 1727 O.S., 1721 N.S.; GEORGE II., from Saturday, June 11th, 1727, to Saturday, October 25th, 1760, N.S.; GEORGE III., from Saturday, October 25th, 1760, to Saturday, January 29th, 1820, GEORGE IV., from Saturday, January 29th, 1820, to Saturday, June 26th, 1830; WILLIAM IV., from Saturday, June 26th, 1830, to Tuesday, June 20th, 1837; VICTORIA, from Tuesday, June 20th, 1837 * * (See Two.)

Hence five have terminated their reign on a Sunday, six on a Monday, four on a Tuesday, four on a Wednesday, six on a Thursday, four on a Thursday, four on a Friday, and six on a Saturday. Nine have begun and ended their reign on the same day, Henry I. and Edward III. on a Sunday; Richard II. on a Monday; Edward IV., Anne, and George I. on a Wednesday: Mary on a Thursday; George III. and George IV. on a Saturday.

Kings, etc., of England.
William I. styled himself King of the English, Normans, and Cinomantians,
Henry I., King of the English and Duke of the Normans;
Stephen, King of the English;
Henry II., King of England, Duke of Normandy and Aquitania, and Count of Anjou;
John, King of England, Lord of Ireland, Duke of Normandy and Aquitania, and Count of Anjou;
Henry III., in 1259, dropped the titles of “Duke of Normandy” and “Count of Anjou;”
Edward I., King of England, Lord of Ireland, and Duke of Aquitania;
Edward II. made his son “Duke of

Aquitania” in the nineteenth year of his reign, and styled himself King of England and Lord of Ireland;
Edward III., from 1337, adopted the style of King of France and England, and Lord of Ireland, and Duke of Aquitania;
Richard II., King of England and France, and Lord of Ireland;
Edward VI., Of England, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith emdash this last title was given to Henry VIII. in the thirty—fifth year of his reign;
Mary, Of England, France, and Ireland, Queen, Defender of the Faith, and Supreme Head of the Anglican and Hibernian Church;
Charles I., Of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith, etc.; Commonwealth, The Keepers of the Liberties of England, by the authority of Parliament,
and Cromwell was styled His Highness;
Charles II. and James II. as Charles I.;
William and Mary, Of England, Scotland, France, and Ireland, King and Queen, Defenders of the Faith, etc.;
Anne, Of Great Britain, France, and Ireland, Queen, Defender of the Faith, etc.;
George III., in 1801, abandoned the words “King of France,” which had been retained for 432 years, and his style was “George III., by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, King, Defender of the Faith. '

Kings have Long Hands

Do not quarrel with a king, as his power and authority reach to the end of his dominions. The Latin proverb is, “An nescis longas regibus esse manus, ” and the German, “Mit grossen herren es ist nicht gut kirschen zu essen ” (“It is not good to eat cherries with great men, as they throw the stones in your eyes").

“There's such divinity doth hedge alking,

That treason can but peep to what it would.”

Shakespeare: King in Hamlet, iv. 5.

The books of the four kings. A pack of cards.

“After supper were brought in the books of the four kings.”— Rabelais: Gargantua and Pantagruel, i. 22.

The three kings of Cologne. The representatives of the three magi who came from the East to offer gifts to the infant Jesus. Tradition makes them three Eastern kings, and at Cologne the names ascribed to them are Kaspar, Melchior, and Balthazar.

Kings may override Grammar

It was Kaiser Sigismund who stumbled into a wrong gender, and when told of it replied, “Ego sum Imperator Romanorum, ct supra grammaticam ' (1520, 1548—1572).

Kingly Titles

Abgarus (The Grand). So the kings of Edessa were styled. Abimelech (my father the king). The chief ruler of the ancient Philistines. Agag (lord). The chief ruler of the Amalekites (4 syl.).

Akbar Khan (very—great chieftain). Hindustan.

Anax. The chief ruler of the ancient Greek kingdoms. Anaxandron was the over—king. Archon (The). The chief of the nine magistrates of Athens. The next in rank was called Basileus (3 syl.); and the third Polemarch (3 syl.), or Field—Marshal.

Asser or Assyr (blessed one). The chief ruler of ancient Assyria. Attabeg (father prince). Persia, 1118.

Augustus. The title of the reigning Emperor of Rome, when the heir presumptive was styled “Caesar.” (See Augustus.)

Autocrat (self—potentate). One whose power is absolute; Russia. Beglerbeg. (See Bey.

Ben—Hadad (son of the sun or Hadad). The chief ruler of ancient Damascus. Bey of Tunis. In Turkey, a bey is the governor of a banner, and the chief over the seven banners is the beglar—bey.

Brenn or Brenhin (war—chief) of the ancient Gauls. A dictator appointed by the Druids in times of danger. Bretwalda (wielder of Britain). Chief king of the heptarchy.

Caesar Proper name adopted by the Roman emperors. (See Kaiser.) Calif (successor). Successors of Mahomet; now the Grand Signior of Turkey, and Sophi of Persia. Candace. Proper name adopted by the queens of Ethiopia.

Cazique (Ca—zeek'). American Indians; native princes of the ancient Peruvians, Cubans, Mexicans, etc. Chagan. The chief of the Avars.

Cham. (See Khan.

Cral. The despot of ancient Servia.

Cyrus (mighty). Ancient Persia. (See Cyrus.) Czar (Caesar). Russia. Assumed by Ivan III., who married a princess of the Byzantine line, in 1472. He also introduced the double—headed black eagle of Byzantium as the national symbol.

Darius, Latin form of Darawesh (king). Ancient Persia. Dey. In Algiers, before it was annexed to France in 1830. (Turkish, dai, uncle.) Dictator. A military autocrat, appointed by the Romans in times of danger. Damnu (lord). Roumania.

Emperor. (See Imperator.) Empress. A female emperor, or the wife of an emperor. Esin'qæ (q.v.). Kings of Kent.

Hospodar. Moldavia and Wallachia; now borne by the Emperor of Russia. Imperator (ruler or commander). The Latin form of emperor.

Inca. Ancient Peru.

Judge. Ancient Jews (Shophet). Kaiser (same as Caesar, q.v.). The German Emperor. Khan (chieftain) or Ghengis—Khan. Tartary. In Persia, the governor of a province is called a Khan. Khedive (q.v.). Modern Egypt.

King or Queen. Great Britain, etc. (Anglo—Saxon cyn, the people or nation, and —ing (a patronymic) = the man of, the choice of, etc.)

Lama or Dalai Lama (great mother—of—souls). Thibet. Melech (king). Ancient Jews.

Mogul' or Great Mogul. Mongolia. Nejus or Nejushee (lord protector). Abyssiuia. Nizam' (ruler). Hyderabad.

Padishah (fatherly king). The Sultan's title.

Pendragon (chief of the dragons, or “summus rex"). A dictator, created by the ancient Celts in times of danger.

Pharaoh (light of the world). Ancient Egypt. President. Republics of America, France, etc. Ptolemy (proper name adopted). Egypt after the death of Alexander. Queen. (Anglo—Saxon, cwen; Creek, gune, a woman.)

Rajah or Maha—rajah (great king). Hindustan. Rex (ruler). A Latin word equivalent to our king. Scherif (lord) Mecca and Medina.

Shah (protector). Persia. Sheik (patriarch). Arabia. Shophetim. So the Jewish “Judges” were styled. Sophi (holy). A title of the Shah of Persia. Stadtholder (city—holder). Formerly chief magistrate of Holland. Suffetes (dictators). Ancient Carthage.

Sultan or Soldan (ruler). Turkey. Vayvode or Waywode (2 syl.) of Transylvania, Moldavia, and Wallachia. Vladika (ruler). Montenegro.

Also, Aga, amcer or emir, archduke, count, doge, duke, effendi, elector, exarch, herzog (= duke), imaum,

infanta, landamman, landgrave, mandarin, margrave, or margravine, nabob, pacha or bashaw, prince, sachem, satrap, seigneur or grandseigneur, sirdar, subahdar, suzerain, tetrarch, viceroy, etc., in some cases are chief independent rulers, in some cases dependent rulers or governors subject to an over—lord, and in other simply titles of honour without separate dominion.

Kingdom Come

Death, the grave, execution.

“And forty pounds be theirs, a pretty sum,

For sending such a rogue to kingdom come.” Peter Pindar Subjects for Painters.

Kingsale

Wearing a hat in the presence of Royalty.

Kingsley's Stand

the 20th Foot. Called “Kingsley's” from their colonel (1756—1769); and called “Stand” from their “stand” at Minden in 1759. Now called the “Lancashire Fusiliers"

Kingston Bridge

A card bent, so that when the pack is cut, it is cut at this card. “Faire le Pont” is thus described in Fleming and Tibbins's Grand Dictionnaire. “Action de courber quel—ques—unes des cartes et de les arranger de telle sorte que celui qui doit couper ne puisse guère couper qu'a l'endroit qu'on vent.”

Kingston—on—Thames

Named King's—stone from a large, square block of stone near the town hall, on which the early Anglo—Saxon monarchs knelt when they were anointed to the kingly office: Edward the Elder, Athelstan, Edmund, Ethelred, Edred, Edwy, and Edward the Martyr received on this stone the royal unction. The stone is now enclosed with railings.

Kingstown

(Ireland), formerly called Dunleary. The name was changed in 1821 out of compliment to George

IV., who visited Ireland that year, and left Dunleary harbour for his return home on September 5th.

Kingswood Lions

Donkeys; Kingswood being at one time famous for the number of asses kept by the colliers who lived thereabout.

Kinless Loons

The judges whom Cromwell sent into Scotland were so termed, because they condemned and acquitted those brought before them wholly irrespective of party, and solely on the merits of the charge with which they were accused.

Kiosk'

A Turkish summer—house or alcove supported by pillars. (Turkish, kushk; Persian, kushk, a palace; French, kiosque.) The name is also given to newspaper stands in France and Belgium.

Kirk of Skulls

Gamrie church in Banffshire; so called because the skulls and other bones of the Norsemen who fell in the neighbouring field, called the Bloody Pots, were built into its walls.

Kirke—grim

The nix who looks to order in churches, punishes those who misbehave themselves there, and the persons employed to keep it tidy if they fail in their duty. (Scandinavian mythology.)

Kirke's Lambs

The Queen's Royal West Surrey. Called “Kirke” from Piercy Kirke, their colonel, 1682—1691; and “Lambs” from their badge, the Paschal Lamb the crest of the house of Braganza, in compliment to Queen Catharine, to whom they were a guard of honour in her progress to London.

Kirkrapine

(3 syl.). While Una was in the hut of Corcoca, Kirkrapine forced his way in; but the lion, springing on him, tore him to pieces. The meaning is that Romanism was increased by rapine, but the English lion at the Reformation put an end to the rapacity of monks. (Spenser: Faërie Queen, bk. i.)

Kismet

The fulfilment of destiny. (Turkish, gismet, a lot.)

“The word kismet, which he scarcely comprehended before, seems now to be fraught with ... [meaning]. This is kismet; this is the fulfilment of destiny; this is to love.”— Nineteenth Century, February, 1892, p. 209.

Kiss

as a mode of salutation, comes from its use to express reverence or worship. Thus to adore idols and to kiss idols mean the same thing. Indeed, the word adore signifies simply to carry the hand to the mouth, that is, to kiss it to the idol. We still kiss the hand in salutation. Various parts of the body are kissed to distinguish the character of the adoration paid. Thus, to kiss the lips is to adore the living breath of the person saluted; to kiss the feet or ground is to humble oneself in adoration; to kiss the garments is to express veneration to whatever belongs to or touches the person who wears them. “Kiss the Son, lest He be angry” (Ps. ii. 12), means Worship the Son of God. Pharaoh tells Joseph, “Thou shalt be over my house, and upon thy mouth shall all my people kiss,” meaning they shall reverence the commands of Joseph by kissing the roll on which his commands would be written. “Samuel poured oil on Saul, and kissed him,” to acknowledge subjection to God's anointed (1 Sam. x. 1). In the Hebrew state, this mode of expressing reverence arose from the form of government established, whether under the patriarchal or matrimonial figure.

A Judas kiss. An act of treachery. The allusion is to the apostle Judas, who betrayed his Master with a kiss.

Kiss Hands

(To). To kiss the hand of the sovereign either on accepting or retiring from a high government office. (See Kiss .)

“Kissing the hand to the statute of a god was a Roman form of adoration.”— Spencer: Principles of Sociology, vol. ii. part iv. chap. 6, p. 123.

Kiss the Book

After taking a legal oath, we are commanded to kiss the book, which in our English courts is the New Testament, except when Jews “are sworn in.” This is the kiss of confirmation or promise to act in accordance with the words of the oath (Moravians and Quakers are not required to take legal oaths). The kiss, in this case, is a public acknowledgment that you adore the deity whose book you kiss, as a worshipper.

It is now permitted to affirm, if persons like to do so. Mr. Bradlaugh refused to take an oath, and after some years of contention the law was altered.

Kiss the Dust To die, or to be slain. In Psalm lxxii. 9 it is said, “his enemies shall lick the dust.”

Kiss the Hare's Foot

(To). To be late or too late for dinner. The hare has run away, and you are only in time to “kiss” the print of his foot. A common proverb.

“You must kiss the hare's foot; post festum venisti.”— Cole: Dictionary.

Kiss the Mistress

(To). To make a good hit, to shoot right into the eye of the target. In bowls, what we now call the Jack used to be called the “mistress,” and when one ball just touches another it is said “to kiss it.” To kiss the Mistress or Jack is to graze another bowl with your own.

“Rub on, and kiss the mistress.”— Shakespeare. Troilus and Cressida, iii. 2.

Kiss the Rod

(To). To submit to punishment or misfortune meekly and without murmuring.

Kiss behind the Garden Gate

(A). A pansy A practical way of saying “Pensez de moi, ” the flower—language of the pansy.

Kiss given to a Poet

Margaret, daughter of James I. of Scotland and wife of Louis XI. (when only dauphin), kissed the mouth of Alain Chartier “for uttering so many fine things.” Chartier, however, was a decidedly ugly man, and, of course, was asleep at the time.

The tale is sometimes erroneously told of Ronsard the poet.

Kiss the Gunner's Daughter

(To) To be flogged on board ship, being tied to the breech of a cannon.

“I was made to kiss' the wench that never speaks but when she scolds, and that's the gunner's daughter ... Yes, the minister's son ... has the cat's scratch on his back.”— Sir W Scott: Redgauntlei, chap. xiv

Kiss the Place to make it Well

A relic of a very common custom all over the world of sucking poison from wounds. St. Martin of Tours, when he was at Paris, observed at the city gates a leper full of sores; and, going up to him, he kissed the sores, whereupon the lepef was instantly made whole (Sulpicius Scverus: Dialogues. Again, when St. Mayeul had committed some grave offence, he was sent, by way of penance, to kiss a leper who was begging alms at the monastery. St. Mayeul went up to the man, kissed his wounds, and the leprosy left him. Half a score similar examples may be found in the Bollandistes, without much searching.

“Who ran to help me when I fell,

And kissed the place to make it well?”

Kissing—comfit

The candied root of the Sea—eryngium maritimum prepared as a lozenge, to perfume the breath.

Kissing—crust

The crust where the lower lump of bread kisses the upper. In French, baisure de pain.

Kissing the Hand

Either kissing the sovereign's hand at a public introduction, or kissing one's own hand to bid farewell to a friend, and kissing the tips of our fingers and then moving the hand in a sort of salutation to imply great satisfaction at some beautiful object, thought, or other charm are remnants of pagan worship. If the idol was conveniently low enough, the devotee kissed its hand; if not, the devotees kissed their own hands and waved them to the image. God said He had in Israel seven thousand persons who had not bowed unto Baal, “every mouth which hath not kissed him.” (See Kiss .)

“Many ... whom the fame of this excellent vision had gathered thither, confounded by that inatchless beauty, could but kiss the finger—tips of their right hands at sight of her, as in adoration to the goddess Venus herself.”— Pater: Marius the Epicurean, chap. v.

Kissing the Pope's Toe

Matthew of Westminister says, it was customary formerly to kiss the hand of his Holiness; but that a certain woman, in the eighth century, not only kissed the Pope's hand, but “squeezed it.” The Church magnate seeing the danger to which he was exposed, cut off his hand, and was compelled in future to offer his foot, a custom which has continued to the present hour.

Kissing under the Mistletoe

Balder, the Apollo of Scandinavian mythology, was killed by a mistletoe arrow given to the blind Höder, by Loki, the god of mischief and potentate of our earth Balder was restored to life, but the mistletoe was placed in future under the care of Friga, and was never again to be an instrument of evil till it touched the earth, the empire of Loki. It is always suspended from ceilings, and when persons of opposite sexes pass under it, they give each other the kiss of peace and love in the full assurance that the epiphyte is no longer an instrument of mischief

A correspondent in Notes and Queries suggests that the Romans dedicated the holly to Saturn, whose festival was in December, and that the early Christians decked their houses with the Saturnian emblems to deceive the Romans and escape persecution.

Kist—vaen

(The). A rude stone sepulchre or mausoleum, like a chest with a flat stone for a cover

“At length they reached a grassy mound, on the top of which was placed one of those receptacles for the dead of the ancient British chiefs of distinction, called Kist—vaen, which are composed of upright fragments of granite, so placed as to form a stone coffin. “— Sir Walter Scott: The Betrothed, chap. xxix

Kist of Whistles

(A). A churchorgan (Scotch). Cist, a box or chest.

Kistnerappan

The Indian watergod. Persons at the point of death are sometimes carried into the Ganges, and sometimes to its banks, that Kistnerappan may purify them from all defilement before they die. Others have a little water poured into the palms of their hands with the same object.

Kit

(Anglo—Saxon, kette, a cist or box [of tools].) Hence that which contains the necessaries, tools, etc., of a workman.

A soldier's kit. His outfit. The whole kit of them. The whole lot. (See above.) Used contemptuously.

Kit

A three—stringed fiddle. (Anglo—Saxon, cytere; Latin,cithara

Kit—cat Club

A club formed in 1688 by the leading Whigs of the day, and held in Shire Lane (now Lower Serle's Place) in the house of Christopher Cat, a pastry—cook, who supplied the mutton pies, and after whom the club was named Sir Godfrey Kneller painted forty two portraits of the club members for Jacob Tonson, the secretary, whose villa was at Barn Elms, and where latterly the club was held. In order to accommodate the paintings to the height of the club—room, he was obliged to make them three—quarter lengths, hence a

three—quarter portrait is still called a kit—cat. Strictly speaking, a kit—cat canvas is twenty—eight inches by thirty—six.

“Steele, Addison, Congreve, Garth, Vanbrugh, Manwaring, Stepney, Walpole, and Pulteney were of it; so was Lord Dorset and the present Duke. Manwaring ... was the ruling man in all conversation ... Lord Stanhope and the Earl of Essex were also members ... Each member gave his [picture].”— Pope to Spence

Cowley the poet lived at Barn Elms Villas.

Kit Cats

Mutton pies; so called from Christopher Cat, the pastrycook, who excelled in these pasties. (See above.)

Kit's Coty House

on the road between Rochester and Maidstone, a well—known cromlech, is Katigern's or Kitigern's coty house — that is, the house or tomb of Kitigern, made of coits or huge flat stones. (See Hackell's Coit and Devil's Coit .)

Katigern was the brother of Vortimer, and leader of the Britons, who was slain in the battle of Aylesford or Epsford, fighting against Hengist and Horsa. Lambarde calls it Citscotehouse (1570). The structure consists of two upright side—stones, one standing in the middle as a support or tenon, and a fourth imposed as a roof. Numberless stones lie scattered in the vicinity. Often spelt “Kitt's Cotty House.”

Kitchen

Any relish eaten with dry bread, as cheese, bacon, dried fish, etc.

“A hungry heart wad scarce seek better kitchen to a barley scone.”— Sir W. Scott: The Pirate, chap. xi.

Kitchenmaid

(Mrs.). So Queen Elizabeth called Lord Mountjoy, her lord—deputy in Ireland. In one of her letters to Lord Mountjoy she writes:—

“With your frying—pan and other kitchen—stuff you have brought to their last home more rebels than those that promised more and did less.”

Kite

(A), in legal phraseology, is a junior counsel who is allotted at an assize court to advocate the cause of a prisoner who is without other defence. For this service he receives a guinea as his honorarium. A kite on Stock Exchange means a worthless bill. An honorarium given to a barrister is in reality a mere kite. (See below, Kite—Flying .)

Kite—flying

To fly the kite is to “raise the wind,” or obtain money on bills, whether good or bad. It is a Stock Exchange phrase, and means as a kite flutters in the air by reason of its lightness, and is a mere toy, so these bills fly about, but are light and worthless. (See Stock Exchange Slang .)

Kitely

(2 syl.). A jealous city merchant in Ben Jonson's Every Man in his Humour.

Kittle of Fish

A pretty kittle of fish. A pretty muddle, a bad job. Corruption of “kiddle of fish.” A kiddle is a basket set in the opening of a weir for catching fish. Perhaps the Welsh hidl or hidyl, a strainer. (See Kettle .)

Klaus

(Peter). The prototype of Rip Van Winkle, whose sleep lasted twenty years. Pronounce Klows. (See Santa Klaus .)

Klephts (The) etymologically means robbers, but came to be a title of distinction in modern Greece. Those Greeks who rejected all overtures of their Turkish conquerors, betook themselves to the mountains, where they kept up for several years a desultory warfare, supporting themselves by raids on Turkish settlers. Aristoteles Valaoritis (born 1824) is the great “poet of the Klephts.” (See Nineteenth Century, July, 1891, p. 130.)

Knack

Skill in handiwork. The derivation of this word is a great puzzle. Minshew suggests that it is a mere variant of knock. Cotgrave thinks it a variant of snap. Others give the German knacken (to sound).

Knave

A lad, a garcon, a servant. (Anglo—Saxon, cnáfa; German, knabe.) The knave of clubs, etc., is the son or servant of the king and queen thereof. In an old version of the Bible we read: “Paul, a knave of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle,” etc. (Rom. i. 1).

This version, we are told, is in the Harlelan Library, but is generally supposed to be a forgery. But, without doubt, Wycliff (Rev. xii. 5, 13) used the compound “Knave—child,” and Chaucer uses the same in the Man of Lawe's Tale, line 5130.

Knave of Hearts

(A). A flirt.

Knave of Sologne

(A). More knave than fool. The French say “Un niais de Sologne. ” Sologne is a part of the departments of Loiret et Loire—et—Cher.

Knee

Greek, gonu; Latin, genu; French, genou, Sanskrit, janu; Saxon, cneow German, knie, English, knee.

Knee Tribute

Adoration or reverence, by prostration or bending the knee.

“Coming to receive from us

Knee—tribute yet unpaid, prostration vile

Milton Paradise Lost, v P82

Kneph

The ram—headed god of ancient Egypt, called also Amen—ra, and by the Greeks, Ammon.

Knickerbocker

(Diedrich). The imaginary author of a facetious History of New York, by Washington Irving.

Knickerbockers

Loose knee—breeches, worn by boys, cyclists, sportsmen, tourists, etc. So named from George Cruikshank's illustrations of Washington Irving's book referred to above. In these illustrations the Dutch worthies are drawn with very loose knee—breeches.

Knife

is the emblem borne by St. Agatha, St. Albert, and St. Christina.

The flaying knife is the emblem of St. Bartholomew, because he was flayed. A sacrificing knife is borne in Christian art by St. Zadkiel, the angel.

The knife of academic knots. Chrysippos, so called because he was the keenest disputant of his age (B.C. 280—207).

War to the knife. Deadly strife.

Knife

= sword or dagger.

“Till my keen knife see not the wound it makes.”

Shakespeare: Macbeth, i. 5.

Knife and Fork

He is a capital knife—and—fork, a good trencherman.

“He did due honour to the repast; he ate and drank, and proved a capital knife—and—fork even at the risk of dying the same night of an indigestion.”— Gaboriau: Promise of Marriage, vi.

Knifeboard

One of the seats for passengers running along the roof of an omnibus. Now almost obsolete.

Knight

means simply a boy. (Saxon, cniht.) As boys (like the Latin puer and French garcon) were used as servants, so cniht came to mean a servant. Those who served the feudal kings bore arms, and persons admitted to this privilege were the king's knights; as this distinction was limited to men of family, the word became a title of honour next to the nobility. In modern Latin, a knight is termed auratus (golden), from the gilt spurs which he used to wear.

Last of the knights. Maximilian I. of Germany (1459, 1493—1519).

Knight Rider Street

(London). So named from the processions of knights from the Tower to Smithfield, where tournaments were held. Leigh Hunt says the name originated in a sign or some reference to the Heralds' College in the vicinity.

Knight of La Mancha

Don Quixote de la Mancha, the hero of Cervantes' novel, called Don Quixote.

Knight of the Bleeding Heart

The Bleeding Heart was one of the many semi—religious orders instituted in the Middle Ages in honour of the Virgin Mary, whose “heart was pierced with many sorrows.”

“When he was at Holyrood who would have said that the young, sprightly George Douglas would have been content to play the locksman here in Lochleven, with no gayer amusement than that of turning the key on two or three helpless women? A strange office for a Knight of the Bleeding Heart.”— Sir W. Scott: The Abbot, xxiii.

Knight of the Cloak

(The). Sir Walter Raleigh. So called from his throwing his cloak into a puddle for Queen Elizabeth to step on as she was about to enter her barge. (See Kenilworth, chap. xv.)

“Your lordship meaneth that Raleigh, the Devonshire youth,' said Varney, `the Knight of the Cloak, as they call him at Court.”— Ditto, chap. xvi.

Elizabeth, in the same novel, addresses him as Sir Squire of the Soiled Cassock.

Knight of the Couching Leopard

(The). Sir Kenneth, or rather the Earl of Huntingdon, Prince Royal of Scotland, who followed, incognito, Richard I. to the Crusade, and is the chief character of the Talisman, a novel by Sir Walter Scott.

Knight of the Order of John—William

(A). In French: “Chevalier de l'ordre de Jean Guillaume, ” a man hanged. (See John—William .)

Knight of the Post

A man in the pillory, or that has been tied to a whipping—post, is jestingly so called.

Knight of the Rueful Countenance

Don Quixote.

Knight's Fee

A portion of land held by custom, sufficient to maintain a knight to do service as such for the king. William the Conqueror created 60,000 such fees when he came to England. All who had 20 a year in lands or income were compelled to be knights.

Knight's Ward

(The). A superior compartment in Newgate for those who paid three pieces by way of “garnish.” No longer in existence.

Knights (See Cross—Legged ...)

Knights Bachelors

Persons who are simply knights, but belong to no order. (French, bas—chevaliers.)

Knights Bannerets

Knights created on the field of battle. The king or general cut off the point of their flag, and made it square, so as to resemble a banner. Hence knights bannerets are called Knights of the Square Flag.

Knights Baronets

Inferior barons, an order of hereditary rank, created by James I. in 1611. The title was sold for money, and the funds went nominally towards the plantation of Ulster. These knights bear the arms of Ulster, viz. a field argent, a sinister hand couped at the wrist gules. (See Hand .)

Knights Errant

In France, from 768 to 987, the land was encumbered with fortified castles; in England this was not the case till the reign of Stephen. The lords of these castles used to carry off females and commit rapine, so that a class of men sprang up, at least in the pages of romance, who roamed about in full armour to protect the defenceless and aid the oppressed.

“ `Proxima quæque metit gladio' is the perfect account of a knight errant.”— Dryden: Dedication of the Æneis.

Knights of Carpetry

or Carpet Knights, are not military but civil knights, such as mayors, lawyers, and so on; so called because they receive their knighthood kneeling on a carpet, and not on the battle—field.

Knights of Industry

Sharpers.

Knights of Labour

Members of a trades union organised in 1834, in the United States of America, to regulate the amount of wages to be demanded by workmen, the degree of skill to be exacted from them, and the length of a day's work. This league enjoins when a strike is to be made, and when workmen of the union may resume work.

Knights of Malta

or Hospitallers of St. John of Jerusalem. Some time after the first crusade (1042), some Neapolitan merchants built at Jerusalem a hospital for sick pilgrims and a church which they dedicated to St. John; these they committed to the charge of certain knights, called Hospitallers of St. John. In 1310 these Hospitallers took Rhode Island, and changed their title into Knights of Rhodes. In 1523 they were expelled from Rhodes by the Turks, and took up their residence in the Isle of Malta.

Knights of St. Crispin

Shoemakers. Crispin Crispian was a shoe maker. (See Henry V., iv. 3.)

Knights of St. Patrick

Instituted in 1783, in honour of the patron saint of Ireland.

Knights of the Bag

Bagmen who travel for mercantile orders.

Knights of the Bath

This name is derived from the ceremony of bathing, which used to be practised at the inauguration of a knight, as a symbol of purity. The last knights created in this ancient form were at the coronation of Charles II. in 1661. G.C.B. stands for Grand Cross of the Bath (the first—class); K.C.B. Knight Commander of the Bath (the second class); C.B. Companion of the Bath (the third class).

King of Bath. Richard Nash, generally called Beau Nash, a celebrated master of the ceremonies at Bath for fifty—six years. (1674—1761.)

There, go to Bath with you! Don't talk nonsense. Insane persons used to be sent to Bath for the benefit of its mineral waters. The implied reproof is, what you say is so silly, you ought to go to Bath and get your head shaved.

Knights of the Blade

Bullies who were for ever appealing to their swords to browbeat the timid.

Knights of the Chamber

or Chamber Knights, are knights bachelors made in times of peace in the presence chamber, and not in the camp. Being military men, they differ from “carpet knights,” who are always civilians.

Knights of the Cleaver

Butchers.

Knights of the Garter

The popular legend is that Joan, Countess of Salisbury, accidentally slipped her garter at a court ball. It was picked up by her royal partner, Edward III., who gallantly diverted the attention of the guests from the lady by binding the blue band round his own knee, saying as he did so, “Honi soit qui mal y pense” (1348)

Wearing the garters of a pretty maiden either on the hat or knee was a common custom with our forefathers. Brides usually wore on their legs a host of gay ribbons, to be distributed after the marriage ceremony amongst the bridegroom’s friends; and the piper at the wedding dance never failed to tie a piece of the bride’s garter round his pipe.

If there is any truth in the legend given above, the impression on the guests would be wholly different to what such an accident would produce in our days; but perhaps the “Order of the Garter,” after all, may be about tantamount to “The Order of the Ladies’ Champions,” or “The Order of the Ladies’ Favourities.”

Knights of the Green Cloth

Same as CARPET KNIGHTS (q.v.).

Knights of the Handcuffs

Constables, policemen, etc., who carry handcuffs for refractory or suspicious prisoners taken up by them.

Knights of the Hare

An order of twelve knights created by Edward III. in France, upon the following occasion:— A great shouting was raised by the French army, and Edward thought the shout was the onset of battle; but found afterwards it was occasioned by a hare running between the two armies.

Knights of the Holy Sepulchre

An Order of military knights founded by Godfrey of Bouillon, in 1099, to guard the “Holy Sepulchre.”

Knights of the Order of the Golden Fleece

Lawyers.

Knights of the Pencil

The betters in races; so called because they always keep a pencil in hand to mark down their bets.

Knights of the Pestle

or Knights of the Pestle and Mortar. Apothecaries or druggists, whose chief instrument is the pestle and mortar, used in compounding medicines.

Knights o' the Post

Persons who haunted the purlieus of the courts, ready to be hired for a bribe to swear anything; so called from their being always found waiting at the posts which the sheriffs set up outside their doors for posting proclamations on.

“There are knights of the post and booby cheats enough to swear the truth of the broadest contradictions.”— South.

“ `A knight of the post,' quoth he, `for so I am termed; a fellow that will sweare you anything for twelve pence.' ”— Nash: Pierce Penilesse (1592.)

Knights of the Rainbow

Flunkeys; so called from their gorgeous liveries.

“The servants who attended them contradicted the inferences to be drawn from the garb of their masters; and, according to the custom of the knights of the rainbow, gave many hints that they were not people to serve any but men of first—rate consequence.”— Sir W. Scott: Redgauntlet, chap. 20

Knights of the Road

Footpads. (See Knights O' The Post. )

Knights of the Round Table

King Arthur's knights, so called from the large circular table round which they sat. The table was circular to prevent any heart—sore about precedency. The number of these knights is variously given. The popular notion is that they were twelve; several authorities say there were forty; but the History of Prince Arthur states that the table was made to accommodate 150. King Leodegraunce, who gave Arthur the table on his wedding—day, sent him also 100 knights, Merlin furnished twentyeight, Arthur himself added two, and twenty “sieges" were left to reward merit (chaps. xlv., xlvi.). These knights went forth into all countries in quest of adventures. The most noted are—

Sir Acolon, Ballamore, Beaumaris, Beleobus, Belvoure, Bersunt, Bors, Ector, Eric, Ewain, Floll, Gaheris, Galahad, Galohalt, Gareth, Gauriel, Gawain or Ywain, Grislet, Kay, Lamerock, Launcelot du Lac, Lionell, Marhaus, Palamide, Paquinet, Pelleas, Peredur or Perceval, Sagris, Superabilis, Tor, Tristam or Tristan de

Leonnais, Turquine, Wigalois, Wigamur, etc., etc.

A list of the knights and a description of their armour is given in the Theatre of Honour by Andrew Fairne (1622). According to this list, the number was 151; but in Lancelot of the Lake (vol. ii. p. 81), they are said to have amounted to 250.

Knights of the Shears

Tailors. The word Shear is a play on the word shire or county.

Knights of the Shell

The Argonauts of St. Nicholas, a military order, instituted in the 14th century by Carlo

III., King of Naples. Their insignia was a “collar of shells.”

Knights of the Shire

Now called County Members: that is, members of Parliament elected by counties, in contradistinction to Borough members.

Knights of the Spigot

Landlords of hotels, etc.; mine host is a “knight of the spigot.”

“When an old song comes a oross us merry old knights of the spigot it runs away with our discretion.”— Sir W. Scott: Kenilworth, chap. viii.

Knights of the Swan

An order of the House of Cleve.

Knights of the Stick

Compositors. The stick is the printer's “composing stick,” which he holds in his left hand while with his right hand he fills it with letters from his “case.” It holds just enough type not to fatigue the hand of the compositor, and when full, the type is transferred to the “galley.”

Knights of the Thistle

Said to have been established in 809 by Achaicus, King of the Scots, and revived in 1540 by James V. of Scotland. Queen Anne placed the order on a permanent footing. These knights are sometimes called Knights of St. Andrew.

Knights of the Whip

Coachmen.

Knighten Guild

now called Portsoken Ward. King Edgar gave it to thirteen knights on the following conditions:— (1) Each knight was to be victorious in three combats— one above—ground, one underground, and one in the water; and (2) each knight was, on a given day, to run with spears against all comers in East Smithfield. William the Conqueror confirmed the same unto the heirs of these knights. Henry I. gave it to the canons of Holy Trinity, and acquitted it “of all service.”

Knipperdollings

A set of German heretics about the time of the Reformation, disciples of a man named Bernard Knipperdolling. (Blount: Glossographia, 1681.)

Knock Under

(To). Johnson says this expression arose from a custom once common of knocking under the table when any guest wished to acknowledge himself beaten in argument. Another derivation is knuckle under— i.e. to knuckle or bend the knuckle or knee in proof of submission. Bellenden Kerr says it is Te nock ander, which he interprets “I am forced to yield.”

Knocked into a Cocked Hat

Thoroughly beaten; altered beyond recognition; hors de combat. A cocked—hat, folded into a chapeau bras, is crushed out of all shape.

Knockers

Goblins who dwell in mines, and point out rich veins of lead and silver. In Cardiganshire the miners attribute the strange noises so frequently heard in mines to these spirits, which are sometimes called coblyns (German, kobolds).

Knot (Latin nodus, French naeud, Danish knude, Dutch knot, Anglo—Saxon cnotta, allied to knit.)

He has tied a knot with his tongue he cannot untie with his teeth. He has got married. He has tied the marriage knot by saying, “I take thee for my wedded wife,” etc., but the knot is not to be untied so easily.

The Gordian knot. (See Gordian.)

The marriage knot. (See Marriage.)

The ship went six or seven knots an hour. Miles. The log—line is divided into lengths by knots, each length is the same proportion of a nautical mile as half a minute is of an hour. The log—line being east over, note is taken of the number of knots run out in half a minute, and this number shows the rate per hour.

The length of a knot is 47'33 feet when used with a 28—second glass, but 50'75 feet when the glass runs 30 seconds.

True lovers' knot. Sir Thomas Browne thinks the knot owes its origin to the nodus Herculanus, a snaky complication in the caduceus or rod of Mercury, in which form the woollen girdle of the Greek brides was fastened.

To seek for a knot in a rush. Seeking for something that does not exist. Not a very wise phrase, seeing there are jointed rushes, probably not known when the proverb was first current. The Juncus acutiflorus, the Juncus lampocarpus, the Juncus obtusiflorus, and the Juncus polycephalus, are all jointed rushes.

Knot and Bridle

(A). A mob—cap.

“Upon her head a small mob—cap she placed.

Of lawn so stiff, with large flowered ribbon graced, Yclept a knot and bridle; in a bow,

Of scarlet flaming, her long chin below.”

Peter Pindar: Portfolio (Dinah).

Knots of May

The children's game. “Here we go gathering nuts of May” is a perversion of “Here we go gathering knots of May,” referring to the old custom of gathering knots of flowers on May—day, or, to use the ordinary phrase, “to go a—Maying.” Of course, there are no nuts to be gathered in May.

Knotted Stick is Planed

(The). The house of Orleans is worsted by that of Burgundy. The house of Orleans bore for its badge a bâton noueux, the house of Burgundy a plane; hence the French saying, “Le bâton noueux est plané. “

Knotgrass

Supposed, if taken in an infusion, to stop growth.

“Get you gone, you dwarf;

You minimus, of hindering knotgrass made.” Shakespeare: Midsummer Night's Dream, iii. 2.

Knout

(1 syl.) is a knotted bunch of thongs made of hide. It is a Tartar invention, but was introduced into Russia. (Knout, Tartar for knot.)

Know Thyself

The wise saw of Solon, the Athenian lawgiver (B.C. 638—558).

Know the Fitting Moment

The favourite maxim of Pittacos, one of the “seven wise men.”

Know Your Own Mind

By Murphy; borrowed from Destouches, the French dramatist.

Know—Nothings

A secret political party of the United States, which arose in 1853, who replied to every question asked about their society, “I know nothing about it.” Their object was to accomplish the repeal of the naturalisation laws, and of the law which excluded all but natives from holding office. The party split on the slavery question and died out.

The chief principle of the party was that no one who had not been 21 years in the United States should be permitted to have any part in the government.

Knows which Side his Bread is Buttered

(He). He is alive to his own interest. In Latin, “Scit uti foro. “

Knowledge—box (Your). Your head, the brain being the seat of all human knowledge.

Knox's Croft

in Gifford Gate, Haddington; so called because it was the birthplace of John Knox.

Knuckle—duster

A metal instrument which is fitted to a man's fist, and may be readily used in self—defence by striking a blow. Sometimes these instruments are armed with spikes. It was an American invention, and was used in England in defence against the infamous attacks of Spring—heel Jack. We have the phrase “To dust your jacket for you,” meaning to “beat you,” as men dust carpets by beating them.

Knuckle Under

(To). To kneel for pardon. Knuckle here means the knee, and we still say a “knuckle of veal or mutton,” meaning the thin end of the leg near the joint. Dr. Ogilvie tells us there was an old custom of striking the under side of a table with the knuckles when defeated in an argument; and Dr. Johnson, following Bailey, says the same thing.

Kobold

A house—spirit in German superstition; the same as our Robin Goodfellow, and the Scotch brownie (q.v.). (See Fairy Hinzelmann .)

Kochlani

Arabian horses of royal stock, of which genealogies have been preserved for more than 2,000 years. It is said that they are the offspring of Solomon's stud. (Niebuhr.)

Koh—i—Nur

[Mountain of light]. A large diamond in the possession of the Queen of England. It was found on the banks of the Godavery (Deccan), 1550, and belonged to Shah Jehan and Aurungzebe the Great (Mogul kings). In 1739 it passed into the hands of Nadir Shah, who called it the Koh—i—nûr. It next went to the monarchs of Afghanistan, and when Shah Sujah was depossessed he gave it to Runjeet Singh, of the Punjaub, as the price of his assistance towards the recovery of the throne of Cabul'. It next went to Dhuleep Singh, but when the Punjaub was annexed to the British crown in 1849, this noble diamond was surrendered to Great Britain. It is valued at 120,664, some say 140,000.

Its present weight is 106 1/16 carats.

Kohol

or Kohl. Russell says, “The Persian women blacken the inside of their eyelids with a powder made of black Kohol.”

“And others mix the Kohol's jetty dye

To give that long, dark languish to the eye.”

Thomas Moore: Lalla Rookh, part i.

Koli

or the Kolis. The 51st Foot, so called in 1821 from the initial letters of the regimental title, King's Own Light Infantry. Subsequently called the “Second Yorkshire (West Riding),” and now called the “1st Battalion of the South Yorkshire Regiment.”

Knox Ompax

The words of dismissal in the Eleusinian Mysteries. A correspondent in Notes and Queries says “knox” or “kogx” is the Sanscrit Canscha (the object of your desire); “ompax” is om (amen), pacsha (all is over). If this is correct, the words would mean, God bless you, Amen, The ceremonies are concluded. When a judge gave sentence by dropping his pebble into the urn of mercy or death, he said “Pacsha ” (I have done it). The noise made by the stone in falling was called pacsha (fate), and so was the dripping noise of the clepsydra, which limited the pleader's quota of time.

Koppa

A Greek numeral = 90. (See Episemon .)

Koran

or, with the article, Al—Korân [the Reading]. The religious, social, civil, commercial, military, and legal code of Islam. It is rather remarkable that we call our Bible the writing (Scripture), but the Arabs call

their Bible the reading (Korán). We are told to believe that portions of this book were communicated to the prophet at Mecca and Medina by the angel Gabriel, with the sound of bells.

Korrigans

or Corrigan. Nine fays of Brittany, of wonderful powers. They can predict future events, assume any shape they like, move quick as thought from place to place, and cure diseases or wounds. They are not more than two feet high, have long flowing hair, which they are fond of combing, dress only with a white veil, are excellent singers, and their favourite haunt is beside some fountain. They flee at the sound of a bell or benediction. Their breath is most deadly. (Breton mythology.)

Koumiss

or Kumiss. Fermented mare's milk used as a beverage by the Tartar tribes of Central Asia. A slightly alcoholic drink of a similar kind is made with great ceremony in Siberia. It consists of slightly sour cow's milk, sugar, and yeast. (Russian, kumuisu.)

“Kumiss is still prepared from mare's milk by the Calmucks and Nogais, who, during the process of making it, keep the milk in constant agitation.”— Rawlinson: Herodotus, vol. iii. book iv. p. 2.

The ceremony of making it is described at full length by Noel, in the Dictionnaire de la Fable, vol. i. 833—834.

Kraal

A South African village, being a collection of huts in a circular form. (From corral.)

Kraken

A supposed sea—monster of vast size, said to have been seen off the coast of Norway and on the North American coasts. It was first described (1750) by Pontoppidan. Pliny speaks of a sea—monster in the Straits of Gibraltar, which blocked the entrance of ships.

Kratim

The dog of the Seven Sleepers. More correctly called Katmir or Ketmir (q.v.).

Kremlin

(The). A gigantic pile of buildings in Moscow of every style of architecture: Arabesque palaces, Gothic forts, Greek temples, Italian steeples, Chinese pavilions, and Cyclopean walls. It contains palaces and cathedrals, museums and barracks, arcades and shops, the Russian treasury, government offices, the ancient palace of the patriarch, a throne—room, churches, convents, etc. Built by two Italians, Marco and Pietro Antonio, for Ivan III. in 1485. There had been previously a wooden fortress on the spot. (Russian krem, a fortress.)

“Towers of every form, round, square, and with pointed roofs, belfries, donjons, turrets, spires, sentry—boxes fixed on minarets, steeples of every height, style, and colour: palaces, domes, watch—towers, walls embattlemented and pierced with loop—holes, ramparts, fortifications of every description, chiosks by the side of cathedrals; monuments of pride and caprice, voluptnousness glory, and piety.”— De Custine: Russia, chap. xxii.

Every city in Russia has its kremlin (citadel); but that of Moscow is the most important.

Krems White

takes its name from Krems in Austria, the city where it is manufactured.

Kreuzer

(pron. Kroit—zer). A small copper coin in Southern Germany, once marked with a cross. (German, Kreuz, a cross; Latin, crux

Kriemhild

(2 syl.). A beautiful Burgundian lady, daughter of Dancrat and Uta, and sister of Gunther, Gernot, and Giselher. She first married Siegfried, King of the Netherlanders, and next Etzel, King of the Huns. Hagan, the Dane, slew her first husband, and seized all her treasures; and to revenge these wrongs she invited her brothers and Hagan to visit her in Hungary. In the first part of the Nibelungenlied, Kriemhild brings ruin on herself by a tattling tongue:— (1) She tells Brunehild, Queen of Burgundy, that it is Siegfried who has taken her ring and girdle, which so incenses the queen that she prevails on Hagan to murder the Netherlander, (2) she tells Hagan that the only vulnerable part in Siegfried is between his shoulders, a hint Hagan acts on. In the second part of the great epic she is represented as bent on vengeance, and in executing her purpose, after a most terrible slaughter both of friends and foes, she is killed by Hildebrand. (See Brunehild, Hagan .)

Krishna

(the black one). The eighth avâtara or incarnation of Vishnu. Kansa, demon—king of Mathura', having committed great ravages, Brahman complained to Vishnu, and prayed him to relieve the world of its distress; whereupon Vishnu plucked off two hairs, one white and the other black, and promised they should revenge the wrongs of the demon—king. The black hair became Krishna. (Hindu mythology.)

Kriss Kringle

A sort of St. Nicholas (q.v.). On Christmas Eve Kriss Kringle, arrayed in a fur cap and strange apparel, goes to the bedroom of all good children, where he finds a stocking or sock hung up in expectation of his visit, in which depository he leaves a present for the young wearer. The word means Christ—child, and the eve is called “Kriss—Kringle Eve.” (See Santa Claus .)

Krita

The first of the four Hindu periods contained in the great Yuga, when the genius of Truth and Right, in the form of a bull, stood firm on his four feet, and man gained nothing by iniquity. (See Kaliyuga .)

Krupp Gun

A breech-loading steel cannon manufactured at the works of Friedrich Krupp, at Essen in Prussia. Guns of over eight-inch bore are made up of several concentric cylinders; those of a smaller size are forged solid.

Krupp Steel

Steel from the works of Herr Krupp Essen, in Prussia.

Ku—Klux—Klan

(The). (1864—1876.) A secret society in the Southern States of America against the negro class, to intimidate, flog, mutilate, or murder those who opposed the laws of the society. In Tennessee one murder a day was committed, and if anyone attempted to bring the murderers to justice he was a marked man, and sure to be mutilated or killed.

In fact, the Ku—Klux—Klan was formed on the model of the “Molly Maguires” and “Moon—lighters” of Ireland. Between November, 1864, and March, 1865, the number of cases of personal violence was 400 (Greek, kuklos, a circle.)

Kudos

Praise, glory. (Greek.)

Kufic

Ancient Arabic letters; so called from Kufa, a town in the pashalic of Bagdad, noted for expert copyists of the ancient Arabic MSS.

Kufic Coins

Mahometan coins with Kufic or ancient Arabic characters. The first were struck in the eighteenth year of the Hegira (A.D. 638).

Kumara

[youthful]. The Hindu war—god, the same as Kârttikeya (q.v.). One of the most celebrated Hindu poems is the legendary history of this god. R. T. H. Griffith has translated seven cantos of it into English verse.

Kurd

A native of Kurdistan.

Kursaal

Public room at German watering—place for use of visitors.

Kuru

A noted legendary hero of India, the contests of whose descendants form the subject of two Indian epics.

Kyanise

(3 syl.) To apply corrosive sublimate to timber in order to prevent the dry—rot; so called from Dr. Kyan, who invented the process in 1832. (See Paynising.)

Kyle

Carrick, and Cunningham. Ayrshire is divided into three parts: Kyle, a strong corn—growing soil; Carrick, a wild hilly portion, only fit for feeding cattle; and Cunningham, a rich dairy land. Hence the saying—

“Kyle for a man, Carrick for a coo [cow],

Cunningham for butter, Galloway for woo' [wool].”

Kyrie Eleison

[Ki—ri—e E—li—s'n ]. “Lord, have mercy.” The first movement of the Catholic mass. Both the music and the words are so called. In the Anglican Church, after each commandment, the response is, “Lord, have mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep this law.”

Kyrle Society

(The). Founded 1878, for decorating the walls of hospitals, school—rooms, mission—rooms, cottages, etc.; for the cultivation of small open spaces, window—gardening, the love of flowers, etc.; and improving the artistic taste of the poorer classes.