Another correspondent says the real signification of this phrase is to commit suicide by hanging, from a method planned and carried out by an ostler at an inn on the Great North Road. Standing on a bucket, he tied himself up to a beam in the stable; he then KICKED THE BUCKET away from under his feet, and in a few seconds was dead. The natives of the West Indies have converted the expression into "kickeraboo."
~Kick over the traces~, to be over-extravagant. Any one who has come to grief by fast living is said to have KICKED OVER THE TRACES.
~Kick up~, "to KICK UP a row," to create a tumult.
~Kickeraboo~, dead. A West Indian negro's phrase. _See_ KICK THE BUCKET, of which phrase it is a corruption.
~Kickshaws~, trifles; made, or French dishes--not English or substantial. Anything of a fancy description now. Corruption of the _French_ QUELQUES CHOSES.
~Kicksy~, troublesome, disagreeable. _German_, KECK, bold.
~Kid~, an infant, or child. From the German _kind_; or possibly from the name for the young of a goat. Also, a shallow dish in which sailors receive their portions of food.
~Kid~, to joke, to quiz, to hoax anybody. "No KID, now?" is a question often asked by a man who thinks he is being hoaxed.
~Kidden~, or KIDKEN, a low lodging-house for boys.
~Kiddily~, fashionably or showily; "KIDDILY togg'd," showily dressed.
~Kiddleywink~, a small shop where are retailed the commodities of a village store. Originally KIDDLE-A-WINK, from the offer made, with a wink, to give you something out of the kettle or kiddle. In the west country an alehouse. Also, a woman of unsteady habits.
~Kiddy~, a man, or boy. Formerly a low thief.
"Think, on the KIDDYISH spree we had on such a day."
~Kidment~, humbug, coarse chaff or jocularity.
~Kidnapper~, originally one who stole children. Now applied without reference to the age or sex of those stolen. From "kid," a child, and "nab" (corrupted to "nap"), to steal, or seize.
~Kidney~, "of that KIDNEY," of such a stamp; "strange KIDNEY," odd humour; "two of a KIDNEY," two persons of a sort, or as like as two peas, _i.e._, resembling each other like two kidneys in a bunch.--_Old._ "Attempt to put their hair out of KIDNEY."--_Terræ Filius_, 1763.
~Kid-on~, to entice or incite a person to the perpetration of an act.