kettledrum 
The king doth wake to-night, and takes his rouse, 
Keeps wassail, and the swaggering up spring reels; 
And, as he drains his draughts of Rhenish down, 
The kettle-drum and trumpet thus bray out 
The triumph of his pledge. Shak., Hamlet, i. 4, 11. 
A few notes on the trumpet mingled with the occasion- 
al boom of the kettledrum. Scott, Old Mortality, vi. 
2. A fashionable afternoon entertainment 
given by a woman chiefly to women. It is less 
formal than an evening party, and the lady- 
guests generally wear bonnets. Also drum. 
kettledrummer (ket'l-drum"er), n. One who 
beats the kettledrum. 
kettle-hatt, it- [< ME. ketille-liatte ; < kettle + 
hafl.'j A kind of helmet used in the fourteenth 
century. It does not appear that the term was 
definitely limited to any one form. See pot. 
Than the comliche kynge kaughte hym in amies, 
Keste of his ketille-hatte, and kyssede hyme fulle sone, 
Saide, " welcome, syr Craddoke, so Criste mott me helpe ! " 
Morte Arthure (E. E. T. S.), 1. 3517. 
kettle-hole (ket'1-hol), n. In geol., a cavity in 
rock or detrital material, having more or less 
exactly the shape of the interior of a kettle. 
See kettle*-, 4, kettle-moraine, and pot-hole. 
kettleman (ket'1-man), . ; pi. ketttemen (-men). 
A fish, Lophius piscatorius, commonly called the 
angler. 
kettle-moraine (ket'1-mo-ran"), n. An accumu- 
lation of detrital material characterized by ket- 
tle-shaped depressions varying in depth from a 
few feet to a hundred, their outlines being rude- 
ly circular, and their sides as steep as is con- 
sistent with the stability of the soil. The district 
where they occur lies to the northwest of Lake Winneba- 
go and Green Bay in Wisconsin, where it is locally known 
as the potash kettle country. The origin of these remark- 
able depressions is generally supposed to be connected in 
some way with the former glaciation of the region ; but 
the manner of their formation has not yet been explained. 
kettle-pin (ket'1-pin), n. Same as skittle-pin. 
Billiards, kettle-pins, noddy-boards, tables, truncks, shov- 
el-boards, fox and geese, and the like. 
Shelton, Pref. to Don Quixote. (Todd.) 
kettlert, . [Early mod. E. ketler; < kettle + 
-ec 1 .] One who makes or repairs kettles; a 
tinker. 
Drawing in amongst bunglers and ketlers under the 
plain frieze of simplicity, thou mayest finely couch the 
wrought velvet of knavery. Middleton, Black Book. 
kettle-smock (ket'1-smok), n. A smock-frock. 
Halliwell. [Prov. Eng.] 
kettle-stitch (ket'l-stich), n. In bookbinding, 
a chain-stitch that knots and fastens the last 
two leaves of a book at its head and tail : a 
corruption of chain-stitch or catch-up stitch. 
Zaehnsdorf, Bookbinding, p. 173. 
kettrin (ket'rin), n. A variant of cateran. 
ketupa(ke-to'pa), n. [Javanese.] 1. An eared 
owl of Java, Strix ketupa. 2. [cap.] [NL.] 
A genus of owls, related to the foregoing, estab- 
lished by Lesson in 1831 ; the fish-owls. They 
have large ear- tufts, and mostly naked tarsi ; the feet are 
roughened, as in ospreys. There are three species, K. 
jatjanensis (the type), K. flavipes, and K. ceylonensis. The 
last is the common Indian fishing-owl. 
Keuper (koi'per), n. [G.] In geol., the Ger- 
man name of the upper division of the Triassic 
series, a formation of importance in Europe, 
and especially in Germany. The upper part of 
the Keuper consists there of marl, and contains large 
deposits of gypsum and rock-salt. The lower part is 
made up chiefly of gray sandstones and dark marl and 
clay, and contains numerous remains of plants, and some- 
times coal of rather poor quality. See Trias. 
kevel 1 , n. See caoeJl. 
kevel 2 , n. See cavel 2 . 
They kiest kevels them amang, 
Wha wou'd to the grenewood gang. 
Lord DingicaU (Child's Ballads, I. 288). 
kevel 3 (kev'el), n. [Prob. a native name (t).] 
A name of Antilope kavella of Pallas, a sup- 
posed species of gazel, later identified with 
the common gazel, A. dorcas. 
kevel-head (kev'el-hed), n. Naut., the end of 
one of the top-timbers used as a cavel. 
keverM, v. A Middle English form of cover 1 . 
kever 2 t, '. A Middle English form of cover?. 
keverauncet, [ME., < kever + -ace.] Re- 
covery. 
keyercheft, . A Middle English form of ker- 
chief. Chaucer. 
kevil 1 , . See cavefl-. 
kevil 2 , . See caveP. 
Keweenawan(ke'we-na-an),fl. [Also called 
Eeireenian and Keweenawid'n ; < Kewecnaw (see 
del) + -an.] The name given to the series 
of trappean rocks and their interbedded sand- 
stones and conglomerates in which the Lake 
Superior copper-mines are worked. Those who 
gave the name had the idea that the cupriferous series 
was distinct in geological age from the sandstone lying 
3278 
adjacent to it on the east and west, which is generally 
admitted to be the equivalent of the Potsdam sandstone 
of the New York Survey, and of which the so-called Ke- 
weenawan appears to be a local modification, originated by 
intense volcanic action along a line stretching from the 
extremity of Keweenaw Point in Michigan southwest to 
beyond the borders of Minnesota. 
kewkawt (ku'ka), a. [Cf. askew (?).] Awry; 
askew. 
The picture topsie-turvie stands kewwaw [read kewkaw] : 
The world turn'd upside downe, as all men know. 
Taylor, Works (1630), ii. 233. 
kex (keks), . [Also kecks, kix, also kecksy (prop, 
adj.), and keck; < ME. kex, kix, < W. eecys, pi., 
hollow stalks, hemlock (cf. W. cegid, hemlock), 
= Corn. cegas, hemlock; cf. OFlem. koycke, hem- 
lock; L. cicuta, hemlock.] 1. A hollow stalk, 
especially when dry, of various large umbellif- 
erous plants. [Obsolete or archaic.] 
With her [Eve's] gentle blowing 
Stirs vp the heat, that from the dry leaues glowing 
Kindles the Heed, and then that hollow kix 
First fires the small, and they the greater sticks. 
Sylvester, tr. of Du Bartas's Weeks, ii., The Handy-Crafts. 
[Sometimes applied as a term of contempt to a person. 
I'll make these wither'd kexes bear my body 
Two hours together above ground. 
Beau, and Fl., King and No King, v. 2.] 
2. Hemlock. [Archaic.] 
Tho' the rough kex break 
The starr'd mosaic. Tennyson, Princess, iv. 
kexent, . [Early mod. E., in the var. form 
kixen, spelled irreg. kicson; < kex, kix, + -en 2 . 
The form keckson is used as a noun.] Made of 
kexes or hollow stalks. 
One daye agayne will, in his rage, 
Crushe it all as a kicson cage, 
And spill it quite. 
Puttenham, Partheniades, xi. 
kexyt (kek'si), a. [< kex + -f/ 1 . Cf. kecksy, n., 
kecky, a."] Like a kex; hollow; dry; sapless. 
The earth will grow more and more dry and sterile in 
succession of ages ; whereby it will become more kexy, and 
lose of its solidity. Dr. H. More, Godliness, VI. x. 3. 
key 1 (ke), re. [Early mod. E. also keie, kay, etc.; 
< ME. kcye, keie, keige, also cay, kay, < AS. cceg, 
caige = OFries. kai, 
kei, North Fries, kay, 
a key; not found in 
other languages.] 1 . 
An instrument for 
fastening or opening 
a lock, fitted to its 
wards, and adapted, * C bT&l^,y *'.&''"' 
on being inserted and 
turned or pushed in the keyhole, to push a 
bolt one way or the other, or to raise a catch 
or latch ; in certain complicated locks, a porta- 
ble appliance which on being inserted in the 
proper place in the lock lifts tumblers or in 
some other way allows the bolt to be shot 
without itself exercising force upon it. 
The(y) locked the dore and than went theyr way. 
Cayphas and Anna of that kept the kay. 
Joseph of Arimathie (E. E. T. S.), p. 38. 
She took the little ivory chest, 
With half a sigh she turn'd the key. 
Tennyson, The Letters. 
Hence 2. Something regarded as analogous 
to a key, in being a means of opening or mak- 
ing clear what is closed or obscure ; especially, 
that by means of which (often by means of which 
alone) some difficulty can be overcome, some 
obstacle removed, some end attained, some- 
thing unintelligible explained, etc. : as, the key 
to knowledge ; Gibraltar is the key to the Medi- 
terranean ; a key to the solution of an algebraic 
problem; a key to an algebra or arithmetic (a 
book giving the solution of mathematical prob- 
lems proposed as exercises in such text-books) ; 
the key to a cipher. 
Thou art Peter. . . . And I will give unto thee the keys 
of the kingdom of heaven. Mat. xvi. 18, 19. 
Woe unto you, lawyers ! for ye have taken away the key 
of knowledge. Luke xi. 52. 
These counties were the keys of Normandy. 
Shak., 2 Hen. VI., i. 1, 114. 
To learn thy secrets, get into my power 
The key of strength and safety. 
Milton, S. A., 1. 799. 
" Starfcraft is se6 cteg the thsera boca andgit unlycth " 
[AS.], grammar is the key that unlocks the sense of the 
books. F. A. March, Anglo-Sax. Gram., p. 140. 
The key to all the enigmas, all the imputed guilt, all the 
Ward-lock Key and its Keyhole. 
. Main wi > rd . r bM e f *. stem 
, , 
peculiar usefulness to his country of Peel's career, is to 
be sought in the original contrast between his character 
and his position. W. R. Qreg, Misc. Essays, 2d ser., p. 20. 
3. In mech.: (a) A hand-tool for controlling a 
valve, moving a nut, etc., which is independent 
of the part to be moved. In this sense a span- 
ner, wrench, bedstead-wrench, etc., are keys. 
key 
(6) Any device for wedging up or locking to- 
gether different parts, or for jamming or binding 
them to prevent vibration or slipping. Such are : 
(1) the wedge or cotter driven between the hub of a wheel 
and its shaft to bind the two together ; (2) a wedge in 
a chain to prevent slipping ; (8) a wedge put in a split 
tenon to cause it to spread when driven into a mortise, 
(c) A bolt which secures the cap-square to the 
cheek of a gun-carriage. See cut under gun- 
carriage, (d) In masonry, the central stone of 
an arch or vault, usually the uppermost stone ; 
the keystone (although in a true arch no one of 
the voussoirs is more important to the stability 
of the structure than any other). See cut under 
arch 1 , (e) In carp. : (1) A piece inserted in the 
back of a board to prevent warping. (2) The 
last board in a series of floor-boards, tapering 
in shape, and serving when driven home to hold 
the others in place. (3) The roughing on the 
under side of a veneer, designed to assist it in 
holding the glue. (/) In bookbinding, one of 
a series of small tools used by the sewer of a 
book to keep the bands in place when the sec- 
tions of the book are in a sewing-bench. They 
are made of metal or hard wood, shaped like a 
yoke, or the letter U, and of the size 1 by 3 
inches, (g) A joint to assist in supporting a 
train of rods and the tools in a tube-well. (h) 
A wrench or lever for tuning stringed instru- 
ments of fixed intonation, like the pianoforte 
and the harp ; a tuning-wrench or tuning-ham- 
mer. It consists of a metal head hollowed so as to fit 
closely over the tuning-pins, and a handle, usually long 
enough to give considerable leverage, (i) The surplus 
mortar or plaster that passes between the laths, 
and serves to hold the plastering in position. 
(j) A hollow cut in the back of a tile or ter- 
ra-cotta ornament, or on a wall, to hold mortar 
or cement. 4. In musical instruments: (a) In 
instruments especially of the wood wind group, 
a lever and valve operated by the player's 
finger, and designed either to open or to close 
a hole or vent in the side of the tube, so as 
to alter the pitch of the tone by altering the 
length of the vibrating air-column within. 
While In the simpler varieties of the flute, the oboe, 
the clarinet, etc., such holes are controlled by the fingers 
directly, in more complex varieties the number of holes 
is so great, and their position and size are BO inconve- 
nient, that this supplementary mechanism is a necessity. 
A complete system of keys was first elaborated for the 
flute by Theobald Boehm in 1832, and has since been ap- 
plied to the oboe, the clarinet, and to some extent to the 
bassoon, with a decided gain in ease of manipulation, 
length and fullness of compass, and sonorousness of tone. 
Partial systems of keys are also found in the English horn, 
the basset-horn, etc. Holes and keys have been used in 
various brass wind-instruments, notably in the bugle and 
the saxophone, though as a rule they are less used than 
valves. (See valve.) See cuts under flute, clarinet, oboe, 
* (6) In instruments with a keyboard, lik& 
the organ and the pianoforte, one of the levers 
which are depressed in the act of playing. 
When operated by the finger, it is more exactly termed a 
digital or (rarely) a manual; when operated by the foot, 
a pedal. In the pianoforte each key or digital is con- 
nected with a series of levers, by which a hammer may be 
thrown against the string or strings belonging to that 
key, at the same time lifting from the strings the damper 
that prevents their vibration. When the key is released, 
the damper falls and stops the vibration. The duration, 
the force, and to some extent the quality of the tone 
depend upon the way in which the finger depresses the 
key. (See touch.) In the harpsichord each key, with its 
levers, slips a leather or quill plectrum past the string, 
so as to snap or twang it. In the clavichord each key 
presses a metal tangent against the string, so as to drive it 
into vibration. In chimes of bells rung from a keyboard, 
each key throws a hammer against one of the bells. In 
the pipe-organ each key, whether a digital or a pedal, Is 
connected with a seriesof levers, by which a valve is opened 
to admit the compressed air from the bellows into a par- 
ticular groove or channel, over which stand all the pipes 
belonging to that key. The number of pipes actually 
sounded depends upon the number of stops drawn. (See 
cut under organ.) In the harmonium and reed-organ 
each key, with its levers, opens a valve, by which either 
an outward or an inward current of air is set up through 
the groove or channel with which are connected all the 
reeds belonging to that key. The number of reeds sound- 
ed depends upon the number of stops drawn. (See cut 
under reed-organ.) Keys in this sense are also (unfortu- 
nately) called notes. They are arranged according to an ar- 
bitrary plan, some being colored white and some black, and 
they are named by letters, etc., for which see keyboard. 
She guides the finger o'er the dancing keys, . . . 
And pours a torrent of sweet notes around. 
Camper, Charity, 1. 109. 
5. A part pressed by the finger to control the 
action of a typewriter or other similar machine, 
in the manner of a musical keyed instrument. 
6. Any one of the various forms of circuit- 
closer used in electrical experiments and in the 
practical applications of electricity. See tcle- 
i/raph. 7. In music: (a) In musical theory, the 
sum of relations, melodic and harmonic, which 
exist between the tones of an ideal scale, major 
or minor, and in which its unity and individ- 
