adv. and a. orig. phr. Also aphetic kin. [contr. from of kin, which is also found: see A prep.2 = of, and KIN.]
A. adv. (The phrase of kin added to adjectives.)
1. Of kin, by way of family or blood relationship.
1558. Grimalde, Tully’s Offices, I. 21. They be injurious to their next akinne.
1699. Pepys, in Diary, VI. 217. To forfeit their whole inheritance to the next a-kin.
1859. Owen, Lect. on Mamm., App. B. 80. He might think that the orangs were nearer akin to man than the chimpanzees.
2. Of things: Of nature or character; in character. Near a kin: near in nature or character.
1633. P. Fletcher, Pisc. Eclogs, V. xiii. To Love, Fear’s neare akinne.
1713. Guardian, No. 170 (1756), II. 348. The manufacture of paper is very near a-kin to that of linen.
1878. R. W. Dale, Lect. Preach., iii. 63. Desultoriness and indolence are very near akin.
B. adj. (Only as predicate or complement.)
1. Of the same kin or family; related by blood.
1586. T. B., La Primaudaye’s Fr. Acad., 2. These fower gentlemen being of kin, and neere neighbors.
1673. Cave, Prim. Chr., III. ii. 297. We should reckon ourselves akin and obliged to love all Mankind.
1754. Foote, Knights, I. The gentleman says as how mother and he are akin.
1839. Keightley, Hist. Eng., I. 40. Dunstan was of noble birth, and even akin to the royal family.
2. Of things: Of the same kind; allied, related, in character or properties.
1603. Shaks., Meas. for M., II. iv. 113. Lawful mercy Is nothing kin to fowle redemption.
1665. Glanville, Sceps. Sci., Addr. 19. An Imaginary World of our own Making, that is but little a kin to the real one that God made.
1723. Wodrow, Corr. (1843), III. 25. Divisions somewhat of akin to yours have been for some time in the University of Glasgow.
1853. Maurice, Proph. & Kings, vi. 98. The two doctrines seem closely akin.
1860. Tyndall, Glac., I. § 22. 155. The sensation was akin to giddiness.
