kith

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“
Give--kith, ole girl You'd better go below, Miss Lashcairn," said the schoolmaster in a low voice.

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Definitions (6)

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  1. Knowledge; information. So kyndly takes he that kyth, That up he rose and went hym wyth. Sir Perceval (Thornton Rom., ed. Halliwell), l. 1281.
  2. Education; in the plural, manners. Whanne thou komest to kourt among the kete lordes, & knowest alle the kuththes that to kourt langes, Bere the boxumly & bonure, that ich burn the loue. William of Palerne (E. E. T. S.), l. 331.
  3. One's friends or relatives collectively: now obsolete, except in the phrase kith and kin, one's own people and kindred. Neither father nor mother, kith nor kin, shall be her carver in a husband. Lyly, Mother Bombie, i. 3. Who (worse than beasts or savage monsters been) Spares neither mother, brother, kiff, nor kin. Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii. 2. For Lancelot's kith and kin so worship him That ill to him is ill to them. Tennyson, Holy Grail.
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Examples (50)

  • Kit may have come from kith , meaning "estate," found today in the phrase kith and kin . —  The Word Detective
  • Our word "kith," in the proverb "kith and kin," means persons of our acquaintance. —  The Project Gutenberg eBook of Henri of Monmouth Vol. I by J. Endell Tyler
  • He told how the shade killed one cousin after another, using his deadly kiss, until all the kith were dead. —  Demons Don't Dream
  • In the meantime those cherished roots of kith, kin, hearth and home were brought over by many and still exist, to this day. —  The Jacksonian Party
  • Our word "kith," in the proverb "kith and kin," means persons of our acquaintance Footnote 355: Bib. —  Henry of Monmouth, Volume 1 Memoirs of Henry the Fifth
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Etymologies (1)

Toggle Century etymologies Century Dictionary (1)

  1. Formerly also dial. kiff; from Middle English kith, kyth, kitthe, kutthe, kuththe, cuththe, couthe, from Anglo-Saxon cy¯th, cy¯thth, cy¯ththu, knowledge, acquaintance, relationship, kinship, native land (= OFries. kethe, kede = Middle Dutch kunde, konde, Dutch kunde = Middle Low German Low German kunde, knowledge, news, = Old High German cundida, chundida, knowledge, mark, contr. chunde, Middle High German kunde, künde, knowledge, acquaintance, mark, native place, German kunde, knowledge, news, = Icelandic kynni, acquaintance, = Goth, kunthi, knowledge), from cūth, known: see couth.
 

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