Kite

Pronunciation

• enPR: kÄ«t, IPA: /kaɪt/
• Rhymes: -aɪt

From Middle English kite, kete, from Old English cȳta ("kite, bittern"), from Proto-Germanic *kūtijô, diminutive of *kūts ("bird of prey"), from Proto-Indo-European *gū- ("to cry, screech"). Cognate with Scots kyt, kyte ("kite, bird of prey"), Middle High German kiuzelīn, kützlīn ("owling"), German Kauz ("barn owl, screech owl").

Alternative forms

• kight

Full definition of kite

Noun

1. Any of falconiform birds of prey in the subfamily Elaninae of the family Accipitridae with long wings and weak legs, feeding mostly on carrion and spending long periods soaring.A pair of kites built a nest on the cliff.
2. A lightweight toy or other device carried on the wind and tethered and controlled from the ground by one or more lines.On windy spring days, we would fly kites.
3. A tethered object which deflects its position in a medium by obtaining lift and drag in reaction with its relative motion in the medium.
• The purpose of the water kite is to float beneath or beside the ship at a depth sufficient to insure safety.
4. (geometry) A quadrilateral having two pairs of edges of equal length, the edges of each pair being consecutive.Four-sided figures without parallel sides include trapezoids and kites.
5. (banking) A fraudulent draft, such as a check one drawn on insufficient funds or with altered face value.
• But she said, "if this was a kite, he didn't realize that you don't have the float time of the old days," which made check-kiting easier.
6. (astrology) A planetary configuration wherein one planet of a grand trine is in opposition to an additional fourth planet.
• Frequently a kite formation is created by one of the planets in the trine by its opposition to another planet, which allows expulsion and redirection of the pent-up energy associated with a closed circuit.
7. (slang) An aircraft, or aeroplane.
• This time, the engine roared and the kite rocked against the brakes then sluggishly rolled down the strip.
8. (sailing, dated) A lightweight sail set above the topgallants, such as a studding-sail.
• Our good master keeps his kites up to the last moment, studding-sails alow and aloft, and, by incessant straight steering, never loses a rod of way. allegedly the earliest recorded use, per The Language of Sailing by Richard Mayne
9. (sailing, slang) A spinnaker.
10. (US, slang, prison) A short letter.
11. (figurative) A rapacious person.
• ShakespeareDetested kite, thou liest.
12. (UK, dialect) A fish, the brill.

Derived terms

• black kite
• box kite
• go fly a kite
• high as a kite
• kiteboarding
• kite buggy
• kite fishing
• kite surfing
• powerkite
• stunt kite
• yellow-billed kite

Verb

1. (rare, usually with "go") To fly a kite.I'm going kiting this weekend.
2. To glide in the manner of a kite.The wind kited us toward shore.
3. To travel by kite, as when kitesurfing.We spent the afternoon kiting around the bay.
4. To toss or cast.
• Lombard swung at the sweet pea he had dropped, caught it neatly with the toe of his shoe, and kited it upward with grim zest, as though doing that made him feel a lot better.
5. (banking) To write a check on an account with insufficient funds, expecting that funds will become available by the time the check clears.He was convicted of kiting checks and sentenced to two years in prison.
6. (US) To cause an increase, especially in costs.Rising interest rates have kited the cost of housing.
7. (video games) To keep ahead of (a pursuing monster or mob) in order to attack it repeatedly from a distance, without exposing oneself to danger.
• If you're pulling or kiting a creature and it aggros an innocent passer-by, it's your fault and you should apologize.
8. (nautical, engineering) To deflect sideways in the water.
9. (US, slang, prison) To send a short letter.
• I have been working like a dam mule this morning and just found time to kite you.
10. (US, slang) To steal.
• Andy also kept a box of that in his cell, although he didn't get it from me — I imagine he kited it from the prison laundry.
11. (obsolete) To hunt with a hawk.

Derived terms

• check kiting
• kiter

Origin uncertain. Possibly from Middle English *kit, *kid (attested only in compounds: kidney), from Old English cwiþ ("belly, womb"), from Proto-Germanic *kweþuz ("stomach, belly"), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷet-, *gut- ("swelling, rounding; stomach, entrails"), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷu-, *gū- ("to bend, curve, bow, vault, distend"). Cognate with Icelandic kýta ("stomach of a fish, roe"), West Flemish kijte, kiete ("fleshy part of the body"), Middle Low German kūt ("entrails"), Icelandic kviður ("stomach"), kviði ("womb").

Alternative forms

• kyte Scotland

Noun

1. (UK dialectal, Northern England, Scotland) The stomach; belly.

Anagrams

• tike