Forms: α. 1 cyrnel, 2–6 curnel, (3–6 kurnel, 5 curnyll, 6– -ell), 5–8 cornel, (6 -ell), 6 coornel(l. β. 3–7 kirnel, (4 -elle, 6–7 -ell), 5–6 kyrnel, (-ele, etc.) γ. 5–7 kernell, -e, 4– kernel. δ. 4–6 karnel, 4–7 carnell, (6 -ill), 5–7 carnel. [OE. cyrnel, dim. of corn seed, grain, CORN:—OTeut. *kurnilo-. Cf. (without umlaut) MHG. kornel a grain, MDu. cornel coarse meal; also MDu. kernel (f. kern; see KERN sb.2). OE. cyrnel gave ME. curnel in south. and kirnel in midl. and north. dial.; from curnel came cornel, coornel, while kirnel became kernel, whence again carnel.]
† 1. A seed; esp. the seed contained within any fruit; the pip of an apple or similar fruit; a grape-stone. Obs. exc. dial.
α. c. 1000. Ælfric, Hom., I. 236. Men ʓeseoð oft þæt of anum lytlum cyrnele cymð micel treow.
c. 1290. S. Eng. Leg., I. 7/218. Ane Appel þare-of he nam And bi-tok Seth þreo curneles þar-of.
13[?]. Creation (Vernon MS.), in Horstm., Altengl. Leg. (1878), 226. Þreo curnels of an appel þe angel tok.
c. 1420. Pallad. on Husb., X. 163. By cornels or sleuynge The bisynesse of settynge [apples] ful wel spende is.
1572. Mascall, Plant. & Graff. (1592), 61. Apples,… in a leape yeere (as some do say) the Curnelles or Pepines, are turned contrarie.
1653. J. Hall, Paradoxes, 96. They may dye by the cornel of the grape.
1738. [G. Smith], Curious Relat., II. v. 150. Take some of the Cornels of Pine-Apples.
β. a. 1300. Cursor M., 1385. Mani kirnels of a tre mast.
a. 1400–50. Alexander, 2070. The kyng … on þe kirnels [= onion-seed] bote.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 276/1. Kyrnel of frute, granum, granellum.
1573. Tusser, Husb. (1878), 85. Sowe kirnels and hawe, where ridge ye did drawe.
1632. Sanderson, Serm., 554. A kirnell sprowt and grow into a tree.
γ. 1495. Trevisa’s Barth. De P. R., XVII. cxxii. (W. de W.), 684. Whan the pyne appyll kernell shall be vsed: it nedyth to hete easely all the pyne appyll vpon coles.
1599. H. Buttes, Dyets drie Dinner, C vij. Granatum, or Pome-granate, of his multitude of grains or kernels.
1601. Shaks., All’s Well, II. iii. 276. Go too sir, you were beaten in Italy for picking a kernell out of a Pomgranat.
1650. Fuller, Pisgah, II. x. 219. Grapes of goodly greatness; yea the Hebrews report them to have been without any kernels.
1764. Harmer, Observ., III. v. 209. The pounded kernels of dates.
1863. Barnes, Dorset Gloss., Kernel,… commonly applied to the pips of pomaceous fruit.
δ. c. 1375. Cursor M., 1385 (Laud). Thise carnellis lest & most Come from the holy gost.
1375. Creation, 800, in Horstm., Altengl. Leg. (1878), 134. Þat angel ȝaf him þre Karnelis of þat appel-tre.
1534. More, Treat. on Passion, Wks. 1282/2. All the sowre crabes … do take theyr sowrenes of the carnell whereof the tree grew.
1609. Bible (Douay), Ps. viii. Comm. The huskes and carnels [of grapes] cast to hogges.
2. The softer (usually edible) part contained within the hard shell of a nut or stone-fruit.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., III. 134. And oþera hnutena cyrnlu.
c. 1175. Lamb. Hom., 79. Me brekeð þe nute for to habbene þe curnel.
c. 1330. R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 14682. Luytel notes þey toke, & holede þem, þe kerneles out schoke.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XI. 253. After þat bitter barke Is a kirnelle [v.r. curnel] of conforte.
c. 1440. Gesta Rom., lvi. 373 (Addit. MS.). The ape wil gladly Ete the kyrnell of the note, for it is swete.
1526. Pilgr. Perf. (W. de W., 1531), 5 b. As the shale of the nut to be broken that he may fede of the cornell.
1583. Stubbes, Anat. Abus., II. (1882), 72. Bicause he cannot come by the carnell at the first, will therefore cast awaie both the nut and the carnell.
1640. Quarles, Enchirid., II. xxxvi. He … casts away the Kirnell, because hee hath lost the Shell.
1780. Cowper, Progr. Err., 419. We slight the precious kernel of the stone, And toil to polish its rough coat alone.
1865. Kingsley, Herew., xii. A man … so strong that he could shake a nut till the kernel went to powder.
3. The body of a seed within its husk or integuments: a. A grain of wheat or other cereal or graminaceous plant.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 260. Heo breken þe eares bi þe weie & gniden þe cornes [MS. T. curnles] ut.
1483. Caxton, Cato, 2 b. At theyre ful rypyng there is no carnel ne good corn but chaff for the mooste parte.
1599. H. Buttes, Dyets drie Dinner, E viij b. Rize. Bright and cleare kernels, like Pearles Margarite.
1610. A. Willet, Daniel, 195. The henne contemneth a pearle, and preferreth a barley curnell.
1744–50. W. Ellis, Mod. Husbandm., III. II. 8. Long heads [of wheat] full of plump milky kernels.
1891. S. C. Scrivener, Our Fields & Cities, 146. The grain could not multiply to its natural extent when thirty kernels are thrown down upon a square foot of soil.
b. Of other seeds.
1796. Withering, Brit. Plants (ed. 3), II. 307. Seeds thread-shaped, containing a kernel at the base.
1838. T. Thomson, Chem. Org. Bodies, 898. Bonastre employed the same method to analyze the husk and the kernel of the seeds [of Jamaica pepper].
1846. J. Baxter, Libr. Pract. Agric. (ed. 4), II. 251. Good seed [sainfoin] may be known by the husks being of a bright colour, the kernel full and plump.
1880. Gray, Struct. Bot. (ed. 6), 417/2. Kernel. The nucleus of an ovule, or of a seed, i. e. the whole body within the coats.
4. A morbid formation of rounded form in any part of the body; esp. an enlarged gland in the neck or groin; an inflamed tonsil. Usually in pl. Now chiefly dial.
Wax or waxing kernels, a popular term for enlarged lymphatic glands in children, esp. in the neck.
c. 1000. Sax. Leechd., II. 240. Missenlica adla … cyrnelu uneaðlacnu & þam ʓelic.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 4. Of scrofules & glandeles þat buþ curnellys þat comyth in þe fflessch.
1483. Caxton, Gold. Leg., 326/1. Of kyrnellys and botches of his face.
1528. Paynel, Salerne’s Regim., R. By kyrnels are vnderstande impostumes, whiche commonly chance vnder ye arme pittis and in the groynes.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts (1658), 197. The flesh of goats decocted in water take[s] away all bunches and kernels in the body.
1711. Lond. Gaz., No. 4921/4. A Kernel on the near side of his Neck.
1886. W. Som. Word-bk., Kernels are very frequent with some individuals, and are often painful.
5. A gland or glandular body; a tonsil; a lymphatic gland or ganglion; a rounded fatty mass (see quot. 1790). Now rare or dial.
1398. Trevisa, Barth. De P. R., V. lxii. (MS. Bodl.), lf. 31/2. Þe curnels vnder þe tunge þat bredeþ þe spotell to saue þe mouþe tunge … [from] greete drynes.
c. 1400. Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 84. Glandeles, þat ben kirnelis [MS. B. kurnellys] þat ben in þe ground [= groin].
1533. Elyot, Cast. Helthe (1539), 31 b. The kernelles and gristell … if they be well digested they make good nourishment.
1607. Topsell, Four-f. Beasts (1658), 530. The beginning of this disease is in the Almonds, or kernels of the throat.
1674. Boyle, Excell. Theol., II. iii. 148. That little kernel in the brain, called by many writers the Conarion.
1790. W. Marshall, Midl. Counties (1796), II. (E. D. S.), Kernel, a bundle of fat before the shoulder of cattle: the shift.
1893. Brit. Med. Jrnl., 15 April, 812. The thyroid [in the calf] is situated at the upper part of the neck … though the lobes are closer together than in man, they are spoken of as two, each being named a ‘kernel’ or ‘gland.’
b. dial. The dug of a heifer. Craven Dial. (1828).
6. † a. A granule, as of sand or salt. Obs.
c. 1440. Jacob’s Well, 230. Þe kyrnelys of þe grauel or of sande arn wyth-oute noumbre.
1564. Becon, Nosegay, in Early Wks. (Parker Soc.), 206. Who having but a kernel of christian salt in his breast, will not hang wholly on this God?
a. 1825. Forby, Voc. E. Anglia, s.v., A kernel of salt.
† b. Mining. (See quot.) Obs. rare–1.
1757. trans. Henckel’s Pyritol., 333. Kernel is the best and richest small ore.
7. The nucleus of any structure or formation; a core; a center of formation.
1641. Best, Farm. Bks. (Surtees), 24. The lambes stones … are accounted a very dainty dish, being fryed with parsley;… after they are fryed browne, yow are to take of the uppermost filmes, and to eate nothinge but the very innermost kernells.
1665–6. Phil. Trans., I. 301. The Head … having in its middle onely one round, but very bright and big Kernel or Speck.
1692. Ray, Dissol. World, iii. (1732), 21. The middle Part or as he calls it the Kernel of the Mountain.
1793. Holcroft, trans. Lavater’s Physiog., xii. 63. This point may be called the kernel of the future bone.
1799. Kirwan, Geol. Ess., 49. The solid kernel of the globe.
1850. Leitch, trans. C. O. Müller’s Anc. Art (ed. 2), § 85. Those images of the gods … in which a kernel of wood was overlaid with ivory and gold.
1867. Freeman, Norm. Conq., I. iv. 186. This settlement, the kernel of the great Norman Duchy.
b. A crystal or almond-shaped nodule of some mineral embedded in a trappean rock or the like.
1839. Murchison, Silur. Syst., I. xxxvi. 500. The trap is, for the most part, an amygdaloidal greenstone, containing kernels of white calcareous spar.
c. A stone consisting of a nodule.
1892. Skating & Curling, 344 (Badm. Libr.). If it can be secured as a boulder or kernel, it is perhaps of all stones the best.
8. fig. The core or central part of anything nonmaterial; the gist of a narrative, the basis of a system, etc.
1556. J. Heywood, Spider & F., lxxviii. 73. Of my tale: the verie carnell or core, Must stand on two points.
1806. A. Knox, in Mem., I. 13. That which is the kernel of Christianity—to be spiritually minded.
1843. Carlyle, Past & Pr., IV. ii. Wherein lies for him the true kernel of the matter.
9. attrib. and Comb., as kernel bed, flavo(u)r, oil, refuse; kernel-bearing, -breaking, -like, adjs.; † kernel-fruit, fruit having seeds or pips (distinguished from stone-fruit); so kernel fruit-tree; † kernel-relished a., flavored with seeds or kernels; kernel-substance, the substance forming the nucleus of an ovum or other cell; nuclein; † kernel-water: see quot.; † kernel-wort, the figwort, Scrophularia nodosa.
1667. Phil. Trans., II. 511. Those that are *Kernel-bearing Animals, or chewing the Cud.
1693. Evelyn, De la Quint. Compl. Gard., Dict., s.v. Beds, *Kernel Beds are Nursery Beds, wherein the Seed or Kernels of Kernel Fruit are sown in order to raise Stocks to Graff upon.
1887. Moloney, Forestry W. Afr., 65. *Kernel-breaking machines have been introduced.
1791. E. Darwin, Bot. Gard., II. 92, note. Apricot-kernels, peach-leaves … and whatever possesses the *kernel-flavour.
1612. Drayton, Poly-olb., XVIII. 298. Pippin, which we hold of *kernell-fruits the king.
1693. Evelyn, De la Quint. Compl. Gard., I. Dict., s.v. Fruit, Kernel-Fruit, is Fruit that comes of Kernels or Seeds, as Apples, Pears, Quinces.
1719. London & Wise, Compl. Gard., 41. The time that Kernel Fruit-Trees require before they attain to a fit Age for Bearing.
1898. P. Manson, Trop. Diseases, xxxi. 472. Hard, *kernel-like pieces can be felt in their interior.
1877. A. B. Horton, in Moloney, Forestry W. Afr. (1887), 41. Second Palm *Kernel Oil.
1708. J. Philips, Cyder, II. 63. Blissful Cups Of *Kernell-relish’d Fluids.
1706. Phillips, *Kernel-water,… Liquor made of the Kernels of Cherries and Apricocks, pounded and steep’d in Brandy.
1597. Gerarde, Herbal, II. ccxlv. (1633), 717. Figwort or *Kernel Wort is called in Latin Scrophularia major.
