kettle
/ˈkɛ.təl/ noun, verb, proper noun
Forms kettles kettling kettled Kettell
- noun (cooking) A vessel for boiling a liquid or cooking food, usually metal and equipped with a lid. “To cook pasta, you first need to put the kettle on.”
- noun The quantity held by a kettle.
- noun A vessel or appliance used to boil water for the preparation of hot beverages and other foodstuffs. “Stick the kettle on and we'll have a nice cup of tea.”
- noun (geology) A kettle hole, sometimes any pothole.
- noun (ornithology, collective) A group of raptors swirling and spiraling upward as they ride a thermal, especially when migrating. “a kettle of hawks”
- noun (rail transport, slang) A steam locomotive.
- noun (music) A kettledrum.
- noun An instance of kettling; a group of protesters or rioters confined in a limited area.
- verb (originally UK, of the police) To contain demonstrators in a confined area.
- verb (intransitive) Of a boiler: to make a whistling sound like the boiling of a kettle, indicative of various types of fault.
- proper noun A surname.
- proper noun An unincorporated community in Cumberland County, Kentucky, United States, named after a creek.
- proper noun An unincorporated community in Roane County, West Virginia, United States, named after a summit.
- proper noun Synonym of Kingskettle, Fife, Scotland.
Synonyms
teakettle cauldron pickle ass in a sling bind bucket of syrup calvary cross cross to bear difficulty dilemma dire straits doghouse fix hole jam kettle of fish ordeal pinch plight boiler kettleful kettle hole kettledrum tympanum tympani timpani
Etymology
From Middle English ketel, also chetel, from Old English ċietel (“kettle, cauldron”) and in Middle English possibly influenced by Old Norse ketill and both from Proto-Germanic *katilaz (“kettle, bucket, vessel”), of uncertain origin and formation. Usually regarded as a borrowing of Late Latin catīllus (“small bowl”), diminutive of Latin catinus (“deep bowl, vessel for cooking up or serving food”), however, the word may be Germanic confused with the Latin: compare Old English cete (“cooking pot”), Old High German chezzi (“a kettle, dish, bowl”), Icelandic kati, ketla (“a small boat”). Cognate with West Frisian tsjettel (“kettle”), Dutch ketel (“kettle”), German Kessel (“kettle”), Swedish kittel (“cauldron, kettle”), Gothic 𐌺𐌰𐍄𐌹𐌻𐍃 (katils, “kettle”), Finnish kattila, Polish kocioł (“cauldron”), Czech kotel (“boiler”), Russian котёл (kotjól, “boiler, cauldron”).
(watch): Cockney rhyming slang from 'kettle and hob' to 'fob' (fob watch).
The Scottish place-name was historically Cattell (1160). Probably from Scottish Gaelic cat (“cat”) or Pictish cat (“cat”) with a locational suffix.
Webster’s 1913
- noun A metallic vessel, with a wide mouth, often without a cover, used for heating and boiling water or other liguids. Kettle pins, ninepins; skittles. [Obs.] Shelton.
Etymology [OE. ketel; cf. AS. cetel, cetil, cytel; akin to D. kjedel, G. kessel, OHG. chezzil, Icel. ketill, SW. kittel, Dan. kjedel, Goth. katils; all perh. fr. L. catillus, dim. of catinus a deep vessel, bowl; but cf. also OHG. chezzi kettle, Icel. kati small ship.]
Sources: Wiktionary · WordNet 3.0 · Webster’s 1913 — from the Wiktionary entry “kettle”, CC BY-SA 4.0. Details