kettle

Meaning

Noun

1. A vessel for boiling a liquid or cooking food, usually metal and equipped with a lid.
2. The quantity held by a kettle.
3. A vessel or appliance used to boil water for the preparation of hot beverages and other foodstuffs.
4. A kettle hole, sometimes any pothole.
5. A group of raptors riding a thermal, especially when migrating.
6. (slang) A steam locomotive
7. A kettledrum.
8. An instance of kettling; a group of protesters or rioters confined in a limited area.
9. (slang) A watch. Cockney rhyming slang from 'kettle and hob' to 'fob' (fob watch)

Verb

1. To contain demonstrators in a confined area.
2. Of a boiler: to make a whistling sound like the boiling of a kettle, indicative of various types of fault.

Pronounced as (IPA)

/ˈkɛ.təl/

Etymology

From Middle English ketel, also chetel, from Old English ċietel (“kettle, cauldron”) and in Middle English possibly influenced by Old Norse ketill and both from Proto-Germanic *katilaz (“kettle, bucket, vessel”), of uncertain origin and formation. Usually regarded as a borrowing of Late Latin catīllus (“small bowl”), diminutive of Latin catinus (“deep bowl, vessel for cooking up or serving food”), however, the word may be Germanic confused with the Latin: compare Old English cete (“cooking pot”), Old High German chezzi (“a kettle, dish, bowl”), Icelandic kati, ketla (“a small boat”). Cognate with West Frisian tsjettel (“kettle”), Dutch ketel (“kettle”), German Kessel (“kettle”), Swedish kittel (“cauldron”), Swedish kittel (“kettle”), Gothic 𐌺𐌰𐍄𐌹𐌻𐍃 (katils, “kettle”), Finnish kattila, Polish kocioł (“cauldron”), Czech kotel (“boiler”), Russian котёл (kotjól, “boiler, cauldron”).