Forms: α. 1 cycene, kycen(e, cicen(e; 3 kycchen, (4–5 -yne), 3–4 kichene, (3–7 -ine, 7 -en), 4–5 kychene, 5 -en, -ing, -o(u)n, 5–6 -yn(e, 6 kytchyn(e, -in(e, -en, kitchyn(e, -ine, (kitschine, chit-, citchen), 6– kitchen, (6–8 -in, -ing, 7 -ein). β. 3 ku-, 3–4 cuchene(ü); 5 cochyn(e, 5–6 kochyn. γ. 4–5 kechene, -ine, -yne, 4–7 -ing, 5 -ynne, 5–6 -yn, -en, 6 -in, (4–5 keitch-, keiching; ketchyne, chechyn). [OE. cycene wk. fem. = OLG. *kukina (MDu. coken(e, koekene, kuekene, Du. keuken; MLG. kokene, LG. köke(n, kök; hence Da. kökken, also dial. köken, Sw. kök), OHG. chuhhîna (MHG. küche(n, kuche(n, G. küche, and obs. or dial. küch, kuch(e):—vulg. L. cucīna, cocīna, var. of coquīna, f. coquĕre to COOK. Of the ME. forms, those in y, i were orig. midland and north.; those in u southern and esp. s.w., with ü = OE. y; those in e partly Kentish with e for OE. y, partly north. and midl. with e widened from i.]
I. 1. That room or part of a house in which food is cooked; a place fitted with the apparatus for cooking. Clerk of the Kitchen: see CLERK sb. 6.
α. c. 1000. Ags. Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 283/12. Coquina, cycene.
c. 1000. Ælfric, Hom., II. 166. Þa wurpon hi ða anlicnysse inn to heora kycenan.
c. 1050. Suppl. Ælfric’s Voc., in Wr.-Wülcker, 184/11. Coquina, uel culina, cicen.
c. 1275. Lay., 3316. We habbeþ cocus to cwecche to kichene.
c. 1300. Havelok, 936. He bar it in, A[l] him one to the kichin.
c. 1380. Wyclif, Serm., Sel. Wks. I. 215. Sum men ben proude in her herte … of hiȝe kycchynes.
1450. Rolls Parlt., V. 192/1. John Hardewyk Clerk of oure Kechon, William Pecke Clerk of oure Spicerye.
1481. Caxton, Reynard, xxxii. (Arb.), 90. Therwyth the wulf was had to kychen and his lyuer taken out.
1552. Huloet, s.v., All kindes of meat dressed in the kitchen.
1616. Surfl. & Markh., Country Farme, 3. The first foundation of a good House must be the Kitchin.
1656. Finett, For. Ambass., 168. Giving him a lodging to lye in and no Kitching to dress his meate in.
1728. Newton, Chronol. Amended, v. 337. Kitchins to bake and boil the Sacrifices for the People.
1832. G. Downes, Lett. Cont. Countries, I. 189. The dishes were conveyed from the kitchen by a kind of windlass, erected in the dining-hall.
β. c. 1205. Lay., 24602. Þas beorn þa sunde from kuchene.
a. 1225. Ancr. R., 214. He stikeð euer iðe celere, oðer iðe kuchene.
c. 1380. Metr. Hom. (Vernon MS.), in Herrig’s Archiv, LVII. 260. Vre Cuchene schaltou make clene.
c. 1450. Bk. Curtasye, 44, in Babees Bk. Spare brede or wyne … To thy messe of kochyn be sett in sale. Ibid., 553. The clerke of the cochyn shalle alle þyng breue.
γ. 13[?]. Coer de L., 3429. Fro kechene com the fyrste course.
c. 1375. Sc. Leg. Saints, xxx. (Theodera), 430. Nedful thing to þe keching.
c. 1489. Caxton, Sonnes of Aymon, x. 255. Mawgys … went to the kechyn for to haste the mete.
1562. Winȝet, Wks., 1888, I. 11. Mair cure had of the keching nor of the queir.
b. fig. (chiefly with ref, to the stomach.) † The worms’ kitchen, the grave (obs.).
c. 1470. Henryson, Mor. Fab., VIII. (Preach. Swallow), xlv. The bodie to the wormes keitching go, The saule to fire.
1594. T. B., La Primaud. Fr. Acad., II. To Rdr. The stomacke … being as it were the kitchin of the body.
1651. Burton, Anat. Mel., I. i. II. iv. 17. The Ventricle or Stomack … the Kitchin (as it were) of the first concoction.
1806. A. Hunter, Culina (ed. 3), 11. The Stomach is the kitchen that prepares our discordant food.
c. Allusively, with reference to the furnishing of supplies for the kitchen.
1551. Abp. Hamilton, Catech. (1882), 99. That the giffar of that benefice may get in the laif to thame self and thair keching.
1562. Winȝet, Cert. Tractates, Wks. 1888, I. 8. Approprying the Kirk landis … to zour awin kechingis.
1677. W. Hughes, Man of Sin, III. iv. 132. Purgatory makes the Popes Kitching hot, and his inferior Clergies too.
† d. Culinary art; cooking. Obs. rare.
13[?]. K. Alis., 4933 [4917] (MS. Laud). Flesshe hij eten Raw & hoot Wiþouten kycchen.
e. The culinary department; = CUISINE.
1679. Gentlem. Calling, x. 80. Cookery is become a very mysterious Trade, the Kitchin has almost as many Intricacies as the Schools.
1752. Chesterf., Lett. (1792), III. 274. The German kitchen is, without doubt, execrable, and the French delicious; however, never commend the French kitchen at a German table.
† 2. A utensil in which food is prepared. a. Name in New England for a Dutch oven. b. Sc. A tea-urn. Obs.
1782. Sir J. Sinclair, Obs. Scot. Dial., 171. A kitchen, a tea-urn, or vase.
1828. Webster, Kitchen, a utensil for roasting meat; as, a tin kitchen.
1858. E. B. Ramsay, Remin., v. (1870), 118. The kitchen [tea-urn] is just coming in.
3. (Formerly also kitchen meat.) Food from the kitchen; hence, any kind of food (as meat, fish, etc.), eaten with bread or the like, as a relish; by extension, anything eaten with bread, potatoes, porridge, or other staple fare to render it more palatable or more easily eaten. Thus butter or cheese is ‘kitchen’ to bare bread, milk is ‘kitchen’ to porridge. Chiefly Sc. and north. Ir. (= Welsh enllyn.)
14[?]. Sir Beues (MS. C.), 96/1917. And seruyd hym … of the kechyne metys fyne.
1596. Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., I. 91. A verie smal portione of kitschine meit, buttir, milke, or cheis.
1721. Kelly, Scot. Prov., 127. Hunger is good kitchen meat.
1535. Stewart, Cron. Scot., I. 81. Herbis grene and frutt … And quhilis milk … Without kitching or ony kynd of kaill.
1562. Turner, Herbal, II. L vj b. The most part vse Basil and eate it with oyle and gare sauce for a sowle or kitchen.
1567. Earl Mar’s Househ. Bk., in Chalmers, Mary (1818), I. 178. Kiching to the violaris; Item, ij quarteris of muttoun; ij powterie; with potagis, and fische [etc.].
1795. Statist. Acc. Scotl., XIV. 401. The cottagers … have not always what is called kitchen, that is, milk or beer, to their meals. Ibid., XVI. 39. Salt herrings too made great part of their kitchen (opsonium), a word that here signifies whatever gives a relish to bread or porridge.
1862. Hislop’s Prov. Scot., 41. Butter to butter’s nae kitchen.
1886. Stevenson, Kidnapped, xxiii. 227. We were glad to get the meat and never fashed for kitchen.
Mod. Sc. Prov. Hunger is the best kitchen.
4. In a smelting-furnace: see quot.
1881. Raymond, Mining Gloss., Laboratory, the space between the fire and flue-bridges of a reverberatory furnace in which the work is performed; also called the kitchen.
II. attrib. and Comb.
5. Simple attrib. Of, pertaining to, or connected with, a kitchen.
a. With names of persons, denoting esp. those employed in a kitchen, as kitchen-artist, -boy, -clerk, -drudge, -girl, -lass, Malkin, -man, -page, -slave, -slut, -trull, -vestal, -woman.
a. 1661. Holyday, Juvenal, 235/2. The great Roman *kitchin-Artist Apicius.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, VII. ix. Why folowest thou me thou *kechyn boye?
1588. J. Udall, Diotrephes (Arb.), 11. He tooke me up as if I had bin but a kitchin boye.
1712. Arbuthnot, John Bull, III. vi. Frog, that was my father’s kitchin-boy, he pretend to meddle with my estate!
c. 1380. Wyclif, Sel. Wks., III. 277. Stiwardis, or *kechene clerkis.
1615. J. Stephens, Satyr. Ess., A vij b. Make him judge, Betwixt rare beauties and a *kitchin-drudge.
1700. W. King, Transactioneer, 8. Every *Kitchen Girl about the Town knows Jamaica Pepper.
1826. Galt, Last of Lairds, i. (E.D.D.). Jenny Clatterpans, the *kitchen-lass, answers the summons.
1607. Shaks., Cor., II. i. 224. The *Kitchin Malkin pinnes Her richest Lockram ’bout her reechie necke.
1849. I. Taylor, Loyola & Jes. (1857), 187. He would be *kitchenman.
1470–85. Malory, Arthur, VII. v. Torne ageyn bawdy *kechyn page.
1530. Tindale, Answ. More, I. iv. Wks. III. 88. The kitchen-page, turning the spit.
1538. Bale, Thre Lawes, 381. Where are these vyllen knaues, The deuyls owne *kychyn slaues?
1859. G. Meredith, R. Feverel, 393. He got among them *kitchen sluts.
1611. Shaks., Cymb., V. v. 177. Our bragges Were crak’d of *Kitchen-Trulles. Ibid. (1590), Com. Err., IV. iv. 78. The *kitchin vestall scorn’d you.
1861. Mrs. Carlyle, Lett., III. 77. The Welsh housemaid, whom I have decided to make *kitchen-woman.
b. With terms denoting the building containing the kitchen, its parts or surroundings, etc., as kitchen-building, -chimney, -court, -door, -gutter, -hatch, -hearth, -lum (Sc.), -yard.
1886. Willis & Clark, Cambridge, III. 553. The *kitchen-building of S. John’s College.
1711. Shaftesb., Charac. (1737), III. 219. Who took the *Kitchin-Chimney and Dripping-pan for their Delight.
1634. Rainbow, Labour (1635), 24. Let all the … heards … lay downe their life at his *kitching doore.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, xxxii. A knock might have been heard at the kitchen door.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 274/1. *Kychyne gotere, alucium.
1750. Carte, Hist. Eng., II. 64. A poor Irish scholar … begging some relief at the *kitchen-hatch.
1790. Laws Harvard Coll., 40. The Waiters shall take the victuals at the kitchen-hatch, and carry the same to the several tables.
a. 1800. Cowper, trans. Bourne’s Cricket, 2. Little inmate full of mirth, Chirping on my *kitchen hearth.
1819. Scott, Bride of Lamm., xi. The thunner’s come right down the *kitchen-lumm.
c. With names of utensils, articles of furniture, etc., belonging to the kitchen, as kitchen-board, -boiler, -chair, -clock, -dresser, -fire, -furniture, -goods, -grate, -implement, -jack, -poker, -range, -stove, -table, -utensil, -vessel, -ware.
1552. Huloet, *Kytchen bourdes, or instrumentes perteyninge to the kytchen, magida.
1853. Hickie, trans. Aristoph. (1887), I. 188. A hole in the *kitchen-boiler.
1847. C. Brontë, Jane Eyre, xviii. In its place stood a deal table and a *kitchen chair.
1856. Emerson, Eng. Traits, Race, Wks. (Bohn), II. 24. The *kitchen-clock is more convenient than sidereal time.
a. 1643. Suckling, Poems (1646), 12. No *Kitching fire, nor eating flame.
1726. Swift, Gulliver, II. iv. The *kitchen grate, the prodigious pots and kettles [etc.].
1807. Southey, Espriella’s Lett. (1808), I. 158. Took me into his kitchen … to show me what he called the *kitchen-range.
1738. F. Moore, Trav., I. 17 (Jod.). Like a turtle on its back upon the *kitchen table of an alderman.
1596. Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., I. 94. Pottis, panis, and vthir *kitchine veshels.
1722. De Foe, Plague (1884), 188. Some *Kitchin-ware for ordering their Food.
d. With products or requisites of the kitchen, as kitchen-brewis, -fare, -grease, -herb, -lee.
1872. Tennyson, Gareth & Lynette, 760. All The *kitchen brewis that was ever supt.
a. 1715. Wycherley, Bill of Fare, Posth. Wks. 1728, I. 175. But with him on his *Kitchen-Fare to fall.
1823. J. Badcock, Dom. Amusem., 149. Tallow, vegetable oils, or *kitchen grease.
1638. Ford, Fancies, V. ii. To thrust my head into a brazen tub of *kitchen-lee.
e. With abstract sbs., as kitchen-aphorism, -commentary, -invention, -science, -similitude, -skill, -term, -vassalage.
1646. Sir T. Browne, Pseud. Ep., I. x. (1686), 30. Culinary prescriptions and *Kitchin Aphorisms.
1586. T. B., La Primaud. Fr. Acad., I. 197. We … studie *kitchin commentaries, as much as any good science.
1711. Shaftesb., Charac. (1737), II. 423. You wou’d be apt … to have less appetite, the more you … descended into the *kitchin-science.
1605. Camden, Rem. (1636), 17. We first taught the French all their *Kitchen-skill.
1872. Tennyson, Gareth & Lynette, 156. Thro’ villain *kitchen-vassalage.
6. Objective and locative, as kitchen-haunter, plunderer; kitchen-bred adj.
1647–8. Wood, Life, 15 Feb. (O.H.S.), I. 140. Those greedie dogs and kitchin-haunters, who noint their chops every night with greese.
1676. Marvell, Mr. Smirke, Wks. 1875, IV. 83. He is a meer Kitchin-plunderer, and attacks but the baggage.
1775. Sheridan, Rivals, II. i. You little, impertinent, insolent, kitchen-bred [etc.].
7. Special Combs.: † kitchen-bob (BOB1 9), a wood-louse or myriapod; † kitchen-cordial = KITCHEN-PHYSIC; † kitchen-gain = KITCHEN-FEE; † kitchen-garth, -ground, a kitchen-garden; kitchen-Latin, inferior Latin, dog-Latin; kitchen meat: see sense 3; † kitchen-medicine = KITCHEN-PHYSIC; kitchen-parlo(u)r, a room serving both as kitchen and parlor; kitchen-plot = kitchen-ground; kitchen-pokerness nonce-wd., a stiffness like that of a kitchen-poker; † kitchen-tillage, vegetables for the kitchen; † kitchen-trade, a set of kitchen-utensils. Also KITCHEN-FEE, -GARDEN, etc.
1610. Guillim, Heraldry, III. xvii. (1660), 210. *Kitchin bobs, which being touched gather themselves round like a Ball.
1597–8. Bp. Hall, Sat., II. iv. 31. If nor a dram of treacle sovereign,… Nor *kitchen cordials can it remedy, Certes his time is come.
1589. Greene, Menaphon (Arb.), 86. Thy sweat vpon thy face dooth oft appeare, Like to my mothers fat and *Kitchin gaine.
1520. in Laing Charters (1899), 82. A gardyne, called … the *kitchengarthe.
1712. J. James, trans. Le Blond’s Gardening, 3. These make the Perfection of the Art of Gardening … to consist in a *Kitchen-Ground.
18[?]. Carlyle, Misc., Boswell’s Johnson (1872), IV. 129. Some Benedictine priests, to talk *kitchen-latin with.
1737. Griffith Jones, Lett. to Mrs. Bevan, 526. I … Incline to try *Kitchin Medicines with stricter Rules of liveing.
1848. Thackeray, Van. Fair, xxvi. Her mother … dived down to the lower regions of the house to a sort of *kitchen-parlour.
1843. Ht. Martineau, Hill & Valley, 50. Another portion of his garden was half *kitchen-plot.
1836–9. Dickens, Sk. Boz, Mr. Watkins Tottle (1839), 460. He … had a clean-cravatish formality of manner, and *kitchen-pokerness of carriage.
1669. Worlidge, Syst. Agric. (1681), 45. They are sowen … in the Spring with other the like *Kitchen-Tillage.
1693. Dryden, Juvenal, X. (1697), 250. Pans, Cans, and … a whole *Kitchin Trade.
Hence Kitchendom, Kitchenful; Kitchenward adv.
1835. The Australian, 4 Dec., 2/5. The room at the Pulteney, having but one entrance kitchenward, they [dishes] were colder than customary.
1854. Dumfries & Galloway Standard & Advertiser, 28 Dec., 4/4. The humanity that treats a kitchenful of poor neighbours to ale, and bread, and cheese on Christmas.
1859. W. Collins, Q. of Hearts (1875), 50. A whole kitchenful of people.
1872. Tennyson, Gareth & Lynette, 1044. Our good King Who lent me thee, the flower of kitchendom.
1876. Lanier, Clover, 28, in Poems (1893), 20. And, kitchenward, the rattling bucket plumps Souse down the well.
