[Etym. obscure. Cf. F. chiasse, in Normandy quiasse, kiasse scum of metals.] A form of impure graphite, which separates from certain kinds of iron in the process of smelting, floating on the top in the form of scales. Also, A dross on the surface of melted lead. Hence Kishy a. (see quot. 1825).
1812. Sir H. Davy, Chem. Philos., 391. There is a substance formed in iron foundries called kish, of a brilliant appearance, usually in thin scales, analogous to plates of polished steel. It consists chiefly of carbonaceous matter united to iron.
1825. J. Nicholson, Operat. Mechanic, 330. The appearance of this substance, called by the workmen kish,… is so common an attendant on the production of the most highly carbonized iron, that the workmen have applied the term kishy to that peculiar sort of iron.
1881. Raymond, Mining Gloss., Kish, the blast-furnacemen’s name for the graphite-segregations seen in pig-iron and in the cinder of a furnace making a very gray iron.
