Emily Dickinson Lexicon

KELL, n.²

1. The call or omentum. [See Caul, the usual orthography of the word.] – Wiseman.
2. The chrysalis of the caterpillar. – B. Jonson.

KELP, n. [Ar. and Pers.]

1. The calcined ashes of sea weed, used in the manufacture of glass. This is a dark colored alkaline substance, which, in a furnace, vitrifies and becomes transparent. – Encyc.
2. A plant. The popular name of certain species of the genus Salicornia.

KELP'Y, n.

An imaginary spirit of the waters, in the form of a horse. [Local and vulgar.]

KEL'SON, n. [See KEELSON.]

KELT'ER, n. [Dan. kilter, to gird, to truss up; kilte, a folding.]

The phrase, he is not in kelter, signifies he is not in order, or not in readiness. – Grose.

KEMB, v.t. [Sax. cemban, to comb.]

To comb, – which see. Kemb is an obsolete orthography. – B. Jonson. Dryden.

KEM'E-LIN, n. [Qu. Gr. κειμηλιον, furniture.]

A tub; a brewer's vessel. [Not in use.] – Chaucer.

KEN, n.

View; reach of sight. Coasting they kept the land within their ken. – Dryden.

KEN, v.i.

To look round. – Burton.

KEN, v.t. [W. ceniaw, to see; ceiniaw, to take a view, to perceive; which Owen deduces from càn, cain, clear, bright, fair, white, and sight, brightness, and this coincides with L. canus, white, caneo, to be white, and this with L. cano, to sing, canto, Eng. to cant, to chant. These coincide in elements with G. kennen, to know, erkennen, to see, know, discern; D. kennen, Sw. kunna, Dan. kiender, to know, to be able; Sax. connan, cunnan, Goth. kunnan, to know. In Sax. cennan is to bear, L. gigno, Gr. γενναω. The radical sense is to strain, extend, reach. In Sans. kanna is an eye. See Can.]

1. To see at a distance; to descry. We ken them from afar. – Addison.
2. To know; to understand. [Obs.] – Shak. Gay. [This verb is used chiefly in poetry.]

KEN'DAL-GREEN, n.

A species of green cloth made at Kendal. – Shak.

KEN'NEL, n.¹ [Fr. chenil; It. canile; from L. canis, a dog.]

1. A house or cot for dogs, or for a pack of hounds.
2. A pack of hounds or their cry. – Encyc.
3. The hole of a fox or other beast; a haunt.

KEN'NEL, n.² [It. canale; Fr. canal; Eng. channel.]

1. The water-course of a street; a little canal or channel.
2. A puddle.

KEN'NEL, v.i.

To lodge; to lie; to dwell; as a dog or a fox. The dog kenneled in a hollow tree. – L'Estrange.

KEN'NEL, v.t.

To keep or confine in a kennel. – Tatler.

KEN'NEL-ED, pp.

Kept in a kennel.

KEN'NEL-ING, ppr.

Keeping in a kennel.

KEN'NING, n.

View; sight. – Bacon.

KEN'TLE, n. [W. cant, a hundred; L. centum.]

In commerce, a hundred pounds in weight; as, a kentle of fish. [It is written and pronounced also quintal.]

KENT'LEDGE, n.

In seamen's language, pigs of iron for ballast laid on the floor of a ship. – Mar. Dict.

KEPT, v. [pret. and pp. of Keep.]

KER'A-SINE, a. [Gr. κερας, a horn.]

In mineralogy, horny; corneous.

KER'ATE, n. [Gr. κερας, a horn.]

The third mineral order of Mohs. – Hooper.

KERB-STONE, or KIRB-STONE, n. [See CURB-STONE.]

KER'CHIEF, n. [contracted from coverchief; Fr. couvrir, to cover, and chef, the head. – Chaucer.]

1. A head dress; a cloth to cover the head. – Shak.
2. A cloth used in dress. – Hayward. The word is now seldom used, except in its compound, handkerchief, and sometimes neckerchief.