Obs. exc. dial. Forms: α. 4– kex, 6–7 kexe, 6 keckes, 8 kecks, (9 dial. kesk, kesh). β. 4–6 kyx, 6–8 kix(e, (6 kickes, kykkes, 9 dial. gix, gicks, kish). See also KECK, KECKSY, CASSHE. [Origin unknown; W. cecys pl., sometimes cited as the source, is no doubt from Eng.]
1. The dry, usually hollow, stem of various herbaceous plants, esp. of large umbelliferous plants, such as Cow Parsnip, Wild Chervil, and Marsh Angelica.
1377. Langl., P. Pl., B. XVII. 219. Glowande gledes gladieth nouȝte þis werkmen … As doth a kex [C. XX. 185 kyx] or a candel þat cauȝte hath fyre & blaseth.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 277/2. Kyx, or bunne, or drye weed, calamus.
1530. Palsgr., 235/2. Keckes of humblockes, tviav. Ibid., 236/1. Kickes the drie stalke of humlockes or burres, tvyav.
1577. B. Googe, Heresbach’s Husb. (1586), 177 b. Take a peece of a reede or a kex.
1589. Pappe w. Hatchet, C iv. Elders they may bee, which being fullest of spungie pith, proue euer the driest kixes.
1672. Josselyn, New Eng. Rarities, 74. The Stalkes are as hollow as a Kix, and so are the Roots.
1723. J. Nott, Confectioner’s Dict., Pref. Upon the Battlements of the Castle [of pastry] were planted Guns made of Kexes.
1768–74. Tucker, Lt. Nat. (1834), II. 596. Taking for our support a withered kecks instead of the staff of life.
1842. Akerman, Wiltsh. Gloss., Gix, the dry stalks of hemlock.
1891. T. Hardy, Tess (1892), 139. I should be as dry as a kex wi’ travelling so far.
† b. Without a: collectively, or as a material.
In some cases perh. taken as pl. of KECK, a form which was prob. evolved from this collective sense.
1562. J. Heywood, Prov. & Epigr. (1867), 106. Of kyks for cage woorke, to builde thy house hie.
1597. Gerarde, Herbal, II. xvii. § 1. 199. The stalke is rounde, smooth and hollow, like to Kexe or Casshes.
1607. Wilkins, Miseries enforced Marriage, IV. in Hazl., Dodsley, IX. 534. Ilf. Dost not know me, butler? But. For kex, dried kex.
1725. Bailey, Erasm. Colloq., 7. You’re so thin, a Body may see through you, and as dry as Kecks.
2. An umbelliferous plant with a hollow stalk.
1578. Lyte, Dodoens, III. xxiii. 306. Sagapenum is the sap or gumme of a kinde of Ferula or kix.
1658. Rowland, trans. Moufet’s Theat. Ins., 1003. They are commonly found in Kexes, or Asse Parsly in the summer time.
1755. Gentl. Mag., XXV. 29. Cicuta. Common Hemlock, or Kex.
1784. J. Twamley, Dairying Exempl., 118. Kex, or water-parsnip,… grows in rivers and fens, is very noxious to cattle; also the lesser Kex called upright water-parsnip, in rivers and ditches.
1847. Tennyson, Princess, IV. 59. Tho’ the rough kex break The starr’d mosaic.
1880. Jefferies, Gt. Estate, vii. 136. Cutting a dry ‘gicks’ so that it should be open at either end, like a tube.
† 3. The husk, sheath, or hard case of a chrysalis.
1601. Holland, Pliny (1634), I. 329. When the kex or husk is broken, he proueth a faire flying butter-fly.
1688. R. Holme, Armoury, II. 371/1. Kex, or husk of Worms.
† 4. fig. A dried-up sapless person. Obs.
1611. Beaum. & Fl., King & No K., V. ii. I’le make these withered kexes bear my body two hours together above ground.
1659. Lady Alimony, II. v., in Hazl., Dodsley, XIV. 309. Flo. The issue madam? Med. None; nor ever shall With that sear, suckless kex.
1709. Brit. Apollo, II. No. 54. 3/2. If a weighty Boss She, And a slender Kecks He.
a. 1711. Ken, Edmund, Poet. Wks. 1721, II. 360. I’ll follow glorious Edmund to his Urn, The Embers of his Fire this Kix will burn.
