Obs. exc. dial. Also 5 kevere, 7 keuer, keaver, kiever, 8 keever. [app. connected with KEEVE, kive: but the force of the suffix is unexplained.] A shallow wooden vessel or tub.

1

  α.  1407.  in Kennett, Par. Ant. (1818), II. 212. Et pro novo Cowele empto, ixd. Et pro novo Kevere empto, viiid.

2

1609.  C. Butler, Fem. Mon., x. 1. Wiping the Bees,… into a keuer or other vessel.

3

1610.  Althorp MS., in Simpkinson, The Washingtons (1860), p. vii. Itm little keavers … iiij.

4

1676.  Worlidge, Cyder (1691), 109. Either a tub or kiever or else a square chest.

5

1706.  Phillips, Keeve or Keever, a kind of Tub.

6

  β.  1623.  C. Butler, Fem. Mon. (ed. 2), x. II. A Ridder, resting vpon Tongs ouer a cleane Pan or Kiuer that will not leake.

7

1744–50.  W. Ellis, Mod. Husbandm., III. I. 129. Divide [the milk] into several pans, or leads, or kivers. Ibid. (1750), Country Housew., 19. Kneading-kiver, or trough, or tub.

8

1876.  S. Warwicksh. Gloss., Kiver, the tub that the butter is made up in.

9

1881.  Oxfordsh, Gloss., Suppl., Kiver, a trough to make dough, butter, &c. in.

10

1884.  W. Sussex Gaz., 25 Sept. Brew vat and stand, oval Kiver, two 50-gallon casks.

11