1869. H. B. Stowe, Oldtown, 33. The fact is, when a woman gets a kink in her head agin a man, the best on us don't do jest the right thing.
1883. James Payn, Thicker than Water, ch. xxiv. The wheel of life was turning smoothly enough for Mary when there suddenly came a kink in it.
Kinky, adj. (colloquial).—Eccentric;
short tempered; twisty (q.v.).
1848. Jones, Sketches of Travel, p. 146. The kinky-headed cus looked at me sidways and rolled the whites of his eyes at me like he was gwine to have a fit.
1889. Sportsman, 2 Jan. At the former the kinky ones and the worthy souls who play hole-and-corner with society are made to partake of the toke of contrition and the skilly of repentance.
Kip, subs. (old).—A brothel. For
synonyms see Nanny Shop. To
tatter a kip = to wreck a house
of ill-fame.
1766. Goldsmith, Vicar of Wakefield, xx. My business was to attend him at auctions, to put him in spirits when he sat for his picture, to take the left hand in his chariot when not filled by another, and to assist at tattering a kip, as the phrase was, when we had a mind for a frolic.
2. (common).—A bed.
English synonyms. Breeding-cage; bugwalk; bunk; cage; cloth-*market; dab; doss; dossing crib; downy; Feathers Inn; flea-pasture; latty; letty; libb; lypken; perch; ruggins; shake-down; snooze.
French synonyms. L'autel de plume (popular: = Feather's Inn); la bâche (thieves' = awning); le flac (thieves'); le flacul (thieves'); le fournil (popular = bakehouse); la halle aux draps (common = clothmarket); le pagne (thieves' from panier = basket); le panier aux ordures (popular).
1879. J. W. Horsley, in Macm. Mag. xi. 501. So I went home, turned into kip (bed).
1891. Answers, 31 Jan. 'Oh yes,' said the doctor, 'this is a very decent kip; I have tried a good many, but this is the best of the lot.
1892. Morning Post, 25 Oct., p. 2, col. 4. White said, 'I went in there to have a kep' (slang term for cheap lodging).
3. (American).—A fool; a silly fellow: he's a KIP = he's dull-*witted—Matsell (1859).
Verb. (old).—1. To play truant; TO DO DOLLY: Cf. Charley Wag.
1821. Haggart, Life, p. 3. I was sometimes turned down for kipping.
2. (thieves').—To sleep; to lodge.
Kip-house, subs. (tramps').—A
tramps' lodging house.
Kipper, verb. (common).—-See quot.
1885. W. H. Stevenson, in Notes and Queries, 6th. S. xi. 131. On the Trent a salmon is said to be kipper when it is seriously out of condition and has lost about half its weight. The fish are mostly found in this condition after the spawning season, but I have not hitherto been able to learn satisfactorily whether or not there is any connexion between the spawning and kippering. From this has arisen the slang kipper = to die.
Kipsy. See Kypsey.
Kirjalis, phr. (American thieves');—'Who
fears? I fear not; come
on!'—Matsell (1859).
Kirkbuzzer, subs. (Amer. thieves').—A
thief whose speciality is
to ply in churches.—Matsell
(1859).
Kirkling, subs. (thieves').—Breaking
into a house while the occupants
are at church.
