Obs. exc. dial. Also 4–6 kelle, 7 kel. [A northern form corresp. to ME. calle, CAUL sb.1; the difference in vowel is not easy to account for, but cf. mell, Sc. form of maul, mall.]
1. A woman’s hair-net, cap or head-dress: = CAUL sb.1 1.
a. 1400. Pistill of Susan, 128 (MS. A). By a wynliche welle Susan cast of hir kelle. Ibid., 158 (MS. I). Þan had sche kast of hire kell and hire courcheffe.
1513. Douglas, Æneis, VII. xiv. 82. The hair was of this damysell Knyt wyth a buttoune in a goldin kell.
1603. Philotus, xxii. Than may ȝe haue baith Quaiffis and Kellis … All for ȝour weiring and not ellis.
a. 1700[?]. Childe Maurice, v. in Child, Ballads (1886), IV. lxxxiii. 264/2. As many times As knotts beene knitt on a kell.
1817. Lady Margaret, in Whitelaw, Bk. Scot. Ball. (1875), 55/2. To braid her hair she didna care Nor sett her golden kell.
b. dial. The back part of a woman’s cap.
1871. W. Alexander, Johnny Gibb, xlvi. (1873), 256. A mutch that my wife hed ance wi’ a byous muckle squar’ kell.
2. A long cloak or garment; a shroud.
c. 1425. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 656/15. Hec caracalla, kelle. [Cf. ibid. 571/34 Caracalla, a sclavayn or a cope.]
a. 1800[?]. Gay Goss-Hawk, xxx. in Child, Ballads (1886), IV. xcvi E. 364/2. Then up and gat her seven sisters, And sewed to her a kell, And every steek that they pat in Sewd to a siller bell.
3. Gossamer threads forming a kind of film on grass. Cf. CAUL 3
1523. Fitzherb., Husb., § 54. Also there wyll be many kelles vppon the grasse, and that causeth the myldewe.
1576. Turberv., Venerie, 76. Many tymes the cobwebbes fall from the skye and are not suche as spyders make, but a kind of kell.
1614. Markham, Cheap Husb., I. III. i. (1623), 107. Those webs, kels, and flakes … lying on the earth, and a sheep licking them vp, do breed rottennesse.
1663. J. Beal, Lett. to Boyle, 2 Nov., Boyle’s Wks. 1772, VI. 357. Those kells, which like cobwebs do sometimes cover the grounds.
b. The web or cocoon of a spinning caterpillar.
1612. Drayton, Poly-olb., iii. 42. Trees … With caterpillers kells, and duskie cobwebs hong.
1616. B. Jonson, Devil an Ass, II. vi. [Love could] Bury himselfe in euery Silkewormes Kell.
4. Anat. An investing membrane or film: = CAUL 4.
1540. Raynold, Byrth Mankynde, I. ii. (1634), 19. The fleshy skinne … is compassed of fleshinesse, more then any other kell or skin in all the body.
1630. Drayton, Noah’s Flood, Wks. 1538, note. The aspick hath a kell of skin which covereth his teeth until it be angry.
1766. Chron., in Ann. Reg., 120/1. She … has a speck or kell over one eye.
fig. 1823. Galt, R. Gilhaize, I. 271. She was soon scrapit of all the scurf and kell of her abominations.
5. spec. a. The fatty membrane investing the intestines; the omentum: = CAUL 5 a.
1578. Banister, Hist. Man, V. 67. We call one part of the Kell the Anteriour or superiour Membran, and the other the inferiour or posteriour.
1611. Beaum. & Fl., Philaster, V. iv. I’le have him cut to the kell, then down the seames.
1694. Motteux, Rabelais, V. xvii. The inner thin Kell wherewith the Intrails are cover’d.
a. 1825. Forby, Voc. E. Anglia, Kell, the omentum or caul.
1877. in N. W. Linc. Gloss.
b. The amnion inclosing the fœtus, and sometimes enveloping the head at birth: = CAUL 5 b.
1530. Palsgr., 235/2. Kell in a womans belly, taye.
1621. Burton, Anat. Mel., III. iii. II. i. A silly jealous fellow … seeing his childe new born included in a kell, thought sure a Franciscan … was the father of it, it was so like the Frier’s Coule.
1828. Craven Dial., s.v., Brand mentions several advertisements in which these kells or cauls were announced for sale.
1883. in N. W. Linc. Gloss., s.v., Oor ohd mare, she foal’d e’ th’ neet, an’ th’ foal could n’t braak th’ kell, so it was droonded.
6. Comb. (sense 1), as kell-knitter, -maker, -wise.
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 3300. Þis coppis opon kell-wyse knytt in þe woȝes.
14[?]. Nominale, in Wr.-Wülcker, 692/35. Hec reciaria, a kelmaker.
1483. Cath. Angl., 201/2. A kelle knytter, reticularius, reticularia.
Hence Kelled († keld) a., webbed.
1630. Drayton, Noah’s Flood, Wks. 1534. The otter … feeds on fish, which … He with his keld feet and keen teeth doth kill.
