Forms: 4 kidenei, 4–6 kydney (5 ? kidneye, 6 kydne), 6– kidney. ? Sing. or Pl. 4 kydnere. Pl. α. 4 kideneiren, kydeneyren; β. 4 kide-, kydeneris, kidneris, -nares, kydneers, -ners; γ. 6 kidneies, -neis, kydneys, -nes, 6–7 kidneyes, 6–9 kidnies, 6– kidneys. [Of obscure formation.
On the supposition that the sing. was kid(e)nere, this has been inferred to be a compound, having as its second element ME. nere kidney; and it has been conjectured that kid(e)- might represent OE. cwið, cwiða, or ON. kvið belly, womb. But this is on many grounds improbable; above all, because the ordinary sing. in ME. was in -ei, -ey, the solitary instance of kydnere, c. 1420 (1 b below), being probably a pl. for kydneren. It is thus possible that kidenei, pl. kideneiren, had as its second element ey, pl. eyren, eiren, eyre, eyer, EGG. (Cf. Ger. eier testicles.) The pl. kid(e)neris might possibly owe its form to association with neres, neeres, pl. of nere; the later kidneies, -neys, was a new pl. from the unanalysed singular. But the first element remains uncertain.]
1. One of a pair of glandular organs situated in the abdominal cavity of mammals, birds, and reptiles, which excrete urine and so remove effete nitrogenous matter from the blood. Also a gland with similar functions found in some animals of lower organization. The kidneys of cattle, sheep and pigs are an article of food.
a. sing.
c. 1325. Gloss. W. de Bibbesw., in Wright, Voc., 149. L’etplen (the milte), boueles (neres), et reinoun (kidenei).
13[?]. Metr. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 627/8. Ren, kedney.
c. 1400. Pol. Rel. & L. Poems (1866), 37. The Ire in the gawle. Auaryce in the kydney.
1520. Whitinton, Vulg. (1527), 39. They may be wel compared to the kydne that lyeth rolled in fatte, and yet is lene hym self.
1601. Holland, Pliny, XI. xxxvii. 343. The right kidney in all creatures is the bigger.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., 82. The stones or calculous concretions in kidney or bladder.
1871. M. Collins, Mrq. & Merch., I. ix. 293. Waiter, bring me a kidney and some stout.
b. Of doubtful number.
c. 1420. Liber Cocorum, 10. Take þo hert and þo mydruv and þe kydnere, And hew hom smalle, as I þe lere.
c. pl.
α. 1388. Wyclif, Exod. xxix. 13. And thou schalt take … the calle of the mawe, and twey kidneris [3 MSS. kideneiren, 1382 the two kydneers]. Ibid., 22. Twey kideneris [3 MSS. kideneiren, 1382 the two reynes]. Ibid., Lev. iii. 4 [see β].
a. 1400. Prymer (1891), 104. For thou haddest my kydeneyren.
β. a. 1325. Prose Psalter lxxii[i]. 21. Myn kidnares [v.r. kydners] ben chaunged.
1382. Wyclif, Exod. xxix. 13 [see α]. Ibid. (1388), Lev. iii. 4. Thei schulen offre twey kydeneris [v.r. kideneiren, 1382 the two reyns].
γ. c. 1510. More, Picus, Wks. 20/1. My reynes or kidneis, hath chiden me vnto the night.
c. 1532. Du Wes, Introd. Fr., in Palsgr. 904. The kydneys, les rognons.
1535. Coverdale, Lev. iii. 10. The two kydneys with the fat … and the nett on the leuer vpon the kydneys also.
1581. Mulcaster, Positions, xxii. (1887), 93. It driueth also the stone from the kidneies into the bladder.
1732. Arbuthnot, Rules of Diet, 256. It is suspected to be hurtful to the Kidneys.
1803. Med. Jrnl., X. 82. Affections of the bladder and kidnies.
1857. G. Bird, Urin. Deposits (ed. 5), 424. Few remedies are so capricious in their action as those which … influence the functions of the kidneys.
1891. S. Mostyn, Curatica, 27. Don’t you think the kidneys will be spoiled if they are not eaten at once?
fig. 1591. Sylvester, Du Bartas, I. ii. 585. If heav’ns bright torches, from earth’s kidneys, sup Sum somwhat dry and heatfull Vapours up.
1710. Steele, Tatler, No. 268, ¶ 2. A Youth, who officiates as the Kidney of the Coffee-house.
2. fig. Temperament, nature, constitution, disposition; hence, kind, sort, class, stamp.
a. 1555. Latimer, Serm. & Rem. (Parker Soc.), 312. To pronounce all to be thieves to a man, except myself, of course, and those men … that are of my own kidney.
1598. Shaks., Merry W., III. v. 116. Thinke of that, a man of my Kidney;… that am as subiect to heate as butter.
1652. J. Hall, Height Eloq., p. lxxxii. Is it not better for us that are men of this Kidney to have a Ruler set over us then to be left to our freedome.
1733. Fielding, Don Quixote in Eng., III. iv. This fellow is not quite of a right kidney, the dog is not sound at the bottom.
1880. Disraeli, Endym., xvii. It was a large and rather miscellaneous party, but all of the right kidney.
† b. Proper condition or state, order. colloq. Obs.
1763. Colman, Terræ Filius, No. 1. Attempt to put their Hair out of Kidney.
3. Something resembling a kidney in shape, etc.
† a. An ovary. Obs. rare–1.
1576. Turberv., Venerie, lxvi. 186. The kydneys whiche gelders take awaye from a bytche when they spaye hir.
b. More fully kidney potato; an oval variety of potato.
1796. C. Marshall, Garden., xv. (1813), 249. The red nosed kidney … is a great favorite.
1839. Penny Cycl., XIII. 291/2. The earliest potato is called the Superfine White Kidney.
1840. Hood, Up the Rhine, 111. The next dish … was of very small, very waxy kidney potatoes.
1892. Zangwill, Childr. Ghetto, II. 6. Kidneys or regents, my child?
† 4. Kidneys of wheat, an imperfect reproduction of the Scriptural expression ‘fat of kidneys of wheat’ Deut. xxxii. 14: cf. Ps. cxlvii. 14. ‘the fat of wheat,’ the finest of the wheat, in allusion to the fat, and esp. the kidney-fat, as the choicest part of an animal, which was therefore offered in sacrifice.
1611. Bible, Deut. xxxii. 14. With the fat of kidneis of wheat.
1663. Jer. Taylor, Serm. Death Ld. Primate Irel., 10. If the Corn dyes and lives again … in the verdure of a leaf, in the fulness of the Ear, in the Kidneys of the wheat.
a. 1673. G. Swinnock, in Spurgeon, Treas. Dav., Ps. xxxvi. 8. [Bread] made of the kidneys of the wheat, of the finest flour.
5. attrib. and Comb. a. attributive: Of or belonging to the kidneys, as kidney disease, fat, form, substance, suet, -tube, -vein, etc.; made of or containing kidneys, as kidney pie, soup. b. similative, as kidney-form, kidney-shaped adjs.
1889. Sci. Amer., LXI. 48. Liver and *Kidney Diseases.
1806. A. Hunter, Culina (ed. 3), 213. The *kidney fat of a loin of veal.
1885. Hayter, Carboona (1887), 30, note. Great virtues are attributed by the Australian aborigines to the kidney-fat of their enemies, especially if torn out while the victim is still alive.
1796. Kirwan, Elem. Min. (ed. 2), I. 30. *Kidney-form, or reniform, round elevations.
1811. Pinkerton, Petral., II. 123. They are quite different from rolled pebbles, and are often of a flattened, sometimes a *kidney form.
1836–9. Dickens, Sk. Boz, The Streets (1850), 33/2. The *kidney-pie man has just walked away with his warehouse on his arm.
1757. Pultney, in Phil. Trans., L. 67. The receptacle is convex on both sides, and *kidney-shaped.
1887. W. Phillips, Brit. Discomycetes, 17. Lobes deflexed, kidney shaped.
1887. Spons’ Househ. Man., Index, *Kidney soup.
1873. T. H. Green, Introd. Pathol. (ed. 2), 283. The capsule … cannot be removed without tearing the *kidney substance.
1822. in W. Cobbett, Rur. Rides (1885), I. 93. Their skins, colour of veal *kidney-suet.
1847–9. Todd, Cycl. Anat., IV. 254. The epithelium of the *kidney-tubes.
1597. A. M., trans. Guillemeau’s Fr. Chirurg., 30/1. The fourth is the mediane, or *kidnyevayne, situated belovve the foote.
1888. Rolleston & Jackson, Anim. Life, 110. The pulmonary vein … is joined … before it enters the auricle by the efferent kidney veins.
c. Special combs.: kidney-cotton, a variety of Gossypium barbadense, a cotton plant of which the seeds are in kidney-shaped masses; † kidney-fetch = kidney-vetch; kidney-link, a coupling below the collar of the harness of a horse; † kidney-lipped a., hare-lipped; kidney ore, hæmatite occurring in kidney-shaped masses; kidney-paved a., paved with cobble stones; kidney-piece, a cam with a kidney-shaped outline; kidney-potato: see 3 b; kidney-stone, a stone of a kidney shape, a cobble; spec. see quot. 1861; kidney table, a table having a kidney-shaped top; kidney-vetch, a leguminous herb (Anthyllis vulneraria), Lady’s-fingers.
1789. Trans. Soc. Arts, I. 256. I prepared a parcel of the silk, and also a parcel of the *kidney, or Brazilian cotton.
1671. Skinner, Etymol. Ling. Angl., Bot., *Kidney-fetch.
1794. Martyn, Rousseau’s Bot., xxv. 353. Ladies-Finger or Kidney Fetch is not uncommon in chalky pastures.
1883. J. P. Groves, From Cadet to Captain, xxii. 223. Joe once insisted on harnessing and bringing round Nellie’s ponies, but he managed to get the hames upside down, with the *kidney-links on the top of the collars, and in turing into the gates carried away one wheel and a wing.
1648. Herrick, Hesper., Upon Jollie’s Wife. Squint-ey’d, hook-nos’d; and lastly *kidney-lipt.
1750. R. Pococke, Trav. (1888), 15. Three sorts of ore, the finest is the *kidney ore.
1852. Th. Ross, trans. Humboldt’s Trav., I. xiii. 441. The metals appear only in kidney-ores, and present the most delusive appearances.
1889. Daily Tel., 19 April, 6/4. The principal street in Las Palmas emerged from the *kidney-paved condition and got itself macadamised.
1884. F. J. Britten, Watch & Clockm., 43. On the arbor of the annual wheel is fixed a brass cam or *‘kidney piece.’
1861. Bristow, Gloss. Min., *Kidney-stones, a local name for small hard nodules … washed out of the cliffs on the north shore of Weymouth.
1890. W. Gore-Browne, in 19th Cent., Nov., 842. Regimental highlows will not stand the rough kidney stones of the barrack stables for more than six months.
1845. Disraeli, Sybil (1863), 193. He was seated in an easy chair, before a *kidney table at which he was writing.
1706. Phillips, *Kidney-vetch and Kidney-wort, several sorts of Herbs.
