kit

A circular wooden vessel, made of hooped staves.

Noun

  1. A circular wooden vessel, made of hooped staves.
  2. A kind of basket made especially from straw of rushes, especially for holding fish; by extension, the contents of such a basket or similar container, used as a measure of weight.
    • He was pushing a barrow on the fish dock, wheeling aluminium kits which, when full, each contain 10 stone of fish. - 1961 18 Jan, Guardian (cited after OED)
  3. A collection of items forming the equipment of a soldier, carried in a knapsack.
    • Dudes! You simply have too much stuff in your kit! But don't sweat it, I can buy some stuff you don't need. - 1995, HAL Laboratory, EarthBound, Nintendo, Super Nintendo Entertainment System:
  4. Any collection of items needed for a specific purpose, especially for use by a workman, or personal effects packed for travelling.
    • Always carry a good first-aid kit.
  5. A collection of parts sold for the buyer to assemble.
    • I built the entire car from a kit.
  6. The standard set of clothing, accessories and equipment worn by players.
    • A sell-out crowd of 10,000 then observed perfectly a period of silence before the team revealed their black armbands, complete with stitched-in poppies, for the match. After Fifa’s about-turn, it must have been a...
  7. Clothing.
    • Get your kit off and come to bed.
    • The Argentina fan who risked jail by getting her kit off at the World Cup final has broken her silence by posting more topless videos. - 2022 December 20, “Topless Argie fan breaks silence with more nude vids as she...
  8. A full software distribution, as opposed to a patch or upgrade.
  9. The set of skills and abilities chosen for a playable character.
  10. A drum kit.
  11. The whole set; kit and caboodle.
    • Do you know the proportion between ten and twelve or thirteen? — No; I should suppose you may take the whole kit of them as thirty; and the rest are people at from twenty to forty years of age. - 1818, Reports, volume...

Origin

From Middle English kyt, kytt, kytte, from Middle Dutch kitte (“a wooden vessel made of hooped staves”). Related to Dutch kit (“tankard”) (see below). The further etymology is unknown. Perhaps from Proto-Germanic *kitjō-, *kut-, which would be related to the root of Dutch kot (“ramshackle house”), itself of non-Indo-European origin. The transfer of meaning to the contents of a soldier's knapsack dates to the late 18th century, extended use of any collection of necessaries used for travelling dates to the first half of the 19th century. The further widening of the sense to a collection of parts sold for the buyer to assemble emerges in American English in the mid 20th century.

Forms

kits

Hyponyms

airfix kit bathroom kit body hygiene kit body kit death kit electronic kit first aid kit football kit model kit pack-up kit robot kit shaving kit starter kit suicide kit toilet article kit toilet kit toolkit travel kit

Derived

beard kit dancing master's kit devkit dop kit dopp kit Dopp kit first-aid kit get one's kit off hush kit identikit kikay kit kill kit kit and caboodle kit and kaboodle kitbag kit bag kitbash kit car kit-cat kit gun kit-kat kit lens kitless kit man

Noun Entry 2

  1. A kitten (young cat).
  2. A cat in general.
    • “You must call them ‘squibs and crackers.’ And what would you call her?” pointing to the cat. ¶ “Cat or kit, or whatever you please, sir.” - 1890, Joseph Jacobs, “Master of all Masters”, in English Fairy Tales, page 221:
  3. A kit fox (Vulpes macrotis).
  4. A young fox.
  5. A young beaver.
  6. A young ferret.
  7. A young skunk.
  8. A young rabbit.
  9. A young weasel.

Origin

[Alt: A young red fox emerging from a burrow, looking at the camera] A short form of kitten or kitling. From the 16th century, spelled kytte, kitt. From the 19th century also extended to other young animals (beaver, fox, mink, muskrat, etc.), and to a species of small fox (kit fox). Later usage (for other animals) perhaps influenced by chit.

Forms

kits

Derived

kittie kitty

Noun Entry 3

  1. Synonym of kit violin.
    • A dancing master's kit. - 1681, Nehemiah Grew, Musæum Regalis Societatis. Or A Catalogue & Description of the Natural and Artificial Rarities Belonging to the Royal Society and Preserved at Gresham Colledge. […],...
    • Prince Turveydrop then tinkled the strings of his kit with his fingers, and the young ladies stood up to dance. - 1852 March – 1853 September, Charles Dickens, Bleak House, London: Bradbury and Evans, […], published...

    Synonyms: kit violin

Origin

16th century, perhaps from cithara.

Forms

kits

Noun Entry 4

  1. A school of pigeons, especially domesticated, trained pigeons.

Origin

Borrowed from German kitte, Kütte (“flock of doves”) (circa 1880).

Forms

kits

Verb

  1. To assemble or collect something into kits.
    • We need to kit the parts for the assembly by Friday, so that manufacturing can build the tool.
  2. To equip (somebody) with something.

    Synonyms: kit out

Forms

kits kitting kitted