1811. Lex. Bal., s.v. Kid. The blowen has napped the kid, the girl is with child.
1819. Moore, Tom Crib, 5. That kid, Master Nap.
1840. Thackeray, Comic Almanack, p. 237. 'Cox's Diary'. Carry you, and your kids, and your traps etc.
1856. Reade, Never too Late to Mend, xxiii. A fig for being drowned, if the kid is drowned.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v.
1865. Kingsley, The Hillyars and the Burtons, xxx. Why, that six shillings as you men are asking for, is six shillings off the kids' victuals.
1868. Cassell's Mag., 4 Jan., p. 213. If you'd have been as full of her when she was a kid, and not have left her to us so much, it might have been sumfink to brag about.
1870. London Figaro, 19 Oct. 'After the Fire.' In this room, sir, said my gallant conductor, lived a bricklayer with his wife and two kids. He made that hole in the wall, and got 'em safe through—the whole caboose on 'em; and a jolly good job he did.
1871. London Figaro, 13 May, p. 4, col. 2. 'Yer see I knowed 'er, sir, right from a kid, Loved 'er right from a boy.
1882. Jas. Payn, Thicker than Water, i. He thinks how his Missis and the kids would enjoy the spectacle, and is half-inclined to fetch them.
1883. Daily Telegraph, March 27, p. 2, col 1. They were afraid of being ridiculed and laughed at by their companions for sinking their manhood and going as kids to a dame school.
1889. Time, Aug., p. 151. A reminiscence of my father, the which, now I'm not a kid, I see the value of.
1892. Kipling, Barrack-room Ballads, 'Fuzzy-Wuzzy'. Then 'ere's to you Fuzzy-Wuzzy, and the Missus and the kid.
2. (common).—A man.
1811. Lex. Bal., s.v.
1830. Sir E. B. Lytton, Paul Clifford, p. 28. ed. 1854. 'Vy, Paul, my kid, you looks down in the chops; cheer up, care killed a cat.'
1834. W. H. Ainsworth, Rookwood. Two milling coves, each vide avake, Vere backed to fight for heavy stake; But in the mean time, so it vos, Both kids agreed to play a cross.
1892. Hume Nisbet, Bushranger's Sweetheart, p. 118. He is like all colonial kids, don't know when he is well off.
3. (thieves').—See quot.
1879. Thor Fredur, Sketches from Shady Places. Their ancient terror, the bobby, Copper, kid, a policeman.
4. (old).—A thief: specifically a young thief. Also Kiddy.—Matsell (1859). See quot. 1823.
1823. Bee, Dict. of the Turf, s.v. Kid, kiddy, and kidling—implies youth; but an old evergreen chap may be dressed kiddly (q.v.). People who imagine that all kids are thieves, carry the joke too far.
1859. Matsell, Vocabulum, s.v. Kidsman. The kidsman accompanies the kid.
5. (American).—A kidnapper.
6. (common).—See quots. Cf. verb. sense 1.
1876. Hindley, Cheap Jack, p. 64. One of these brother boys was well-known for his kid, that is gammon and devilry. Ibid. p. 3. The rarest chaps at kid.
1883. Punch, 28 July, p. 38, col. 1. I was in it, old man, and no kid, As a chap of my form can be in it, if ready to blue 'arf a quid.
1883. Greenwood, Tag, Rag and Co. [quoted in Slang, Jargon, and Cant]. In his opinion it was all kid.
1885. Punch, 31 Jan. p. 60. The world's coming round to my views, Charlie, fast, there's no kid about that.
7. in pl. (common).—Kid gloves: e.g., 'Kids cleaned for 2d. a pair.'
1889. Illustrated Bits, 13 July, p. 1. 'I want to see some gloves.' 'Certainly, miss. Can I show you some undressed kids?' 'Young man! I only require gloves.'
Verb. (common).—1. To quiz; to wheedle; to cheat.
1811. Lex. Bal., s.v. Kid, to coax or wheedle. To amuse a man or divert his attention while another robs him.
