Sc. and north. dial. Also 7 kyt, 7–9 kite. [Etymology uncertain. Cf. early mod.Du. (Kilian) kijte, kiete (mod.W. Flemish kijte, kiet), var. of MDu. cuyte, kuite a fleshy part of the body, esp. the thigh (Du. kuit calf of the leg), = MLG. kût, fleshy part, entrails (Lübben).

1

  The suggestion of Jamieson, repeated by later dicts., that kyte represents OE. cwið, ON. kvið belly, is inadmissible.]

2

  The belly, stomach, paunch.

3

c. 1540.  Lyndesay, Kitteis Confessioun, 140. Thocht Codrus kyte suld cleue and birst.

4

a. 1585.  Polwart, Flyting w. Montgomerie, 754. Misly kyt!

5

1674.  Ray, N. C. Words, 27. A Kite; A Belly, Cumb.

6

1787.  Burns, To a Haggis, iv. Till a’ their weel-swall’d kytes belyve Are bent like drums.

7

1820.  Scott, Monast., xxxiii. To dress dainties at dinner-time for his ain kyte.

8

1855.  Robinson, Whitby Gloss., Kite, stomach.

9

1895.  Crockett, Men of Moss-Hags, xxxvi. 259. His horse … is now filling his kyte in my stable, as his master is eke doing in hall.

10