Forms: α. 3–4 cal, 3–9 cale, (5–6 Sc. cail(l, 6 call, 7 cayle), 4, 8– kale, (6–7 Sc. kaill), 7– Sc. kail. β. 5 kelle, 6 kel, 6–7 kele, keel(e, 7–9 keal(e, 8 kell. [Northern form of COLE, q.v. The normal north. Eng. spelling was cale (now rare), the Sc. kaill, kail; the latter still common in Sc. writers or with reference to Scotland, though kale is more frequent in general use. The β-forms are mainly southern spellings indicating the narrow Northern vowel.]
1. A generic name for various edible plants of the genus Brassica; cole, colewort, cabbage; spec. the variety with wrinkled leaves not forming a compact head (B. oleracea acephala), borecole.
a. 1300. Cursor M., 12523. He sent him to þe yerd … for to gedir þam sum cale.
a. 1340. Hampole, Psalter xxxvi. 2. As kale of gressis soen sall þai fall.
1483. Cath. Angl., 57/2. Cale, olus.
1548. Turner, Names of Herbes, 20. Brassica is named … in englishe colewurtes, cole or keele.
1698. M. Lister, Journ. Paris (1699), 150. The Keel is to be found wild upon the Maritime Rocks.
1772–84. Cook, Voy. (1790), I. 215. One of the sailors, who … had been sent to gather kale.
1813. Cale [see BORECOLE].
1814. Scott, Wav., viii. Gardens, or yards … stored with gigantic plants of kale or colewort.
1860. G. H. K., in Vac. Tour., 148. When times were tolerably quiet, they … cultivated their oats and kail in peace.
b. With qualifying word: Curled, Curly, † Frizzled, German, or Green Kale, the ordinary borecole, with green leaves, very much curled; † Great, Lang, Scotch Kale, a variety of borecole with less wrinkled leaves, of a purplish color; Wild Kale, Colewort. Also Corn-, Field-, Wild Kale, Field-Mustard (Sinapis arvensis); Indian Kale (see quot. 1890). See also BOW-, SEA-KALE.
1673. Wedderburn, Vocab., 18 (Jam.). Brassica, great kail, unlocked. Brassica capitata alba, white locked kail. Brassica crispa, frizzled or curled kail. Brassica minor, smaller kail.
1731–59. Miller, Gard. Dict. (ed. 7), Brassica Siberica, Siberian Borecole, called by some Scotch Kale.
1773. Hawkesworth, Voy., III. 564. The plant which in the West Indies is called Indian Kale and which served us for greens.
1855. Delamer, Kitch. Gard. (1861), 58. Borecole, Scotch Kale, &c.
1890. Watt, Dict. Econ. Prod. India, Indian Kale, a name sometimes given to edible Aroids in those parts of the country where the leaves are eaten.
2. Broth in which Scotch kale or cabbage forms a principal ingredient; hence Sc. Broth or soup made with various kinds of vegetables. Waterkale, broth made without meat or fat.
As kale was long the chief element of dinner in Scotland, the word was often used to denote the meal itself.
c. 1470. Henryson, Mor. Fab., ii. (Town & C. Mouse), 321. I had lever thir fourtie dayis fast, With watter caill … Than all your feist.
a. 1480. Burlesque, in Rel. Ant., I. 85. Ther whas rostyd bakon, moullyde brede, nw soure alle, Whettestons and fyre-brondys choppyde in kelle.
a. 1529. Skelton, Vox populi, 19. Nother malte nor meale,… mylke nor kele.
1567. Gude & Godlie B. (S.T.S.), 206. The Monkis of Melros maid gude kaill On Frydayis quhen thay fastit.
1611. Cotgr., s.v. Viande, No man can make of ill acates good cale [vn bon potage].
1642. Milton, Apol. Smect., i. Wks. (1851), 277. When he brings in the messe with Keale, Beef, and Brewesse, what stomach in England could forbeare to call for flanks and briskets?
c. 1730. Burt, Lett. N. Scotl. (1818), I. 198. Your ordinary fare has been little else beside brochan, cale, stirabout, sowings, &c.
1816. Scott, Bl. Dwarf, i. I will be back here to my kail against ane o’clock.
1858. E. B. Ramsay, Remin., Ser. I. v. (1860), 108. The old-fashioned easy way of asking a friend to dinner was to ask him if he would take his kail with the family.
1873. C. Gibbon, Lack of Gold, iii. We’ll sup our kail out o’t together.
b. Sc. Phrases: Cauld kale het again, something stale served up again; e.g., an old sermon doing duty a second time. To give one his kale through the reek, to treat one in some unpleasant fashion, to let one ‘have it.’
1660. in J. Ramsay, Scotl. & Scotsmen 18th Cent. (1888), II. 80, note. We will take cold kail het again with you to-morrow.
1816. Scott, Old Mort., xiv. When my mither and him forgathered they set till the sodgers, and I think they gae them their kale through the reek!
1823. Galt, Entail, III. xxx. 282. Theirs was a third marriage, a cauld-kail-het-again affair.
1840. C. Brontë, in Mrs. Gaskell, Life, 142. He would have given the Dissenters their kale through the reek—a Scotch proverb.
3. Comb., as (sense 1) kale-blade, -castock, -knife, -leaf, -plant, -seed, -seller, (sense 2) kale-pot: also kale-bell, the dinner-bell; kale-brose, oatmeal-brose made with the fat skimmings of meat-broth; kale-gully, a knife for cutting kale; kale-runt, -stock, the stout stem of a kale-plant, a castock; kale-time, dinner-time; kale-turnip = KOHLRABI (Chambers’ Encycl., 1890); kale-wife, a woman who sells kale or greens; kale-worm, the caterpillar of the cabbage butterfly; a caterpillar in general. See also KALE-YARD and CALGARTH.
a. 1776. Watty & Madge, in Herd, Coll. Scot. Songs, II. 109. But hark!—the *kail-bell rings, and I Maun gae link aff the pot.
1849. [Mrs. Wilde], trans. Meinhold’s Sidonia Sorc., I. 249. The sexton rung the kale-bell. This bell was a sign … to the women-folk who were left at home … to prepare dinner.
1816. Scott, Antiq., xxi. As caller as a *kail-blade. Ibid. (1816), Old Mort., xxviii. When the quean threw sae muckle gude *kail-brose scalding het about my lugs.
1715. Ramsay, Christ’s Kirk Gr., II. i. Arm’d wi a great *Kail-gully.
1612. N. Riding Rec. (1884), I. 263. An assault with a *Cayle knife.
1483. Cath. Angl., 51/2. A *Cale lefe…, caulis.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot., III. 412. Scant worth ane kaill leif.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, II. lxxxi. 258. The leaues of the same rosted in a Call leaffe.
c. 1425. Langl.’s P. Pl., B. VI. 288. I haue percil and porettes and many kole-plantes [MS. Cambr. Dd. 1. 17 *cale-plantes].
1787. Grose, Prov. Gloss., *Kale-pot, pottage-pot. North.
1862. J. Grant, Capt. of Guard, xlv. The iron bar whereon the kail-pot swung.
1785. Burns, Death & Dr. Horn-bk., xvii. Fient haet o’t wad hae pierc’d the heart Of a *kail-runt.
1871. C. Gibbon, Lack of Gold, v. ‘Kail runts,’ from which the leaves had been picked clean.
1743. Maxwell, Sel. Trans. Soc. Improv. Agric. Scot., 269. A Description of the Method of raising *Kail-seed, from burying the Blades in the Earth.
1483. Cath. Angl., 51/2. A *Cale seller, olitor.
a. 1670. Spalding, Troub. Chas. I. (1792), II. 241. John Calder, kail-seller there.
c. 1425. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 644/5. Hoc magudere, *calstok.
1522. Skelton, Why not to Court, 350. Nat worth a soure calstocke.
1681. Colvil, Whigs Supplic. (1751), 58. They … rooted out our kail stocks.
1821. Galt, Ann. Parish, xxviii. (1895), 178. Among the kailstocks and cabbages in their yards.
1787. Burns, Lett. to W. Nicol, 1 June. After *kail-time.
1827. Scott, Jrnl., 19 March. We will hear more in detail when we can meet at Kail-time.
1563. Winȝet, Four Scoir Thre Quest., Wks. 1888, I. 114, marg. Ȝea, the *cailwyfe seis ȝow heir, bund fute and hand.
1785. Jrnl. Lond. to Portsmouth, in R. Forbes, Poems Buchan Dial., 8. They began to misca’ ane anither like kail-wives.
1483. Cath. Angl., 51/2. A *Cale worme, eruca.
1818. Scott, Hrt. Midl., xii. It is but a puir crawling kail-worm after a’.
