Now dial. Forms: 4–5 kidde, 5 kyd, 5–6 kydde, kyde, 7 kidd, 5– kid. [Of unknown origin: W. cedys pl., faggots (sing. cedysen) is prob. from English.] A faggot or bundle of twigs, brushwood, gorse, etc., used either for burning, or for embedding in a bank, beach, or muddy bottom to give firmness to loose soil, to stop shingle or sand from shifting, etc.
a. 1350. St. Matthew, 354, in Horstm., Altengl. Leg. (1881), 136. Sone he gert ordayn a fire Of kiddes and brandes birnand schire.
c. 1440. Promp. Parv., 274/1. Kyd, fagot, fassis.
1485. Nottingham Rec., III. 230. For fellyng of wodde … Þat þe kyddes were made of.
1523. Fitzherb., Husb., § 135. Than the vnder bowes wolde be cut away, and made kyddes thereof.
1611. Markham, Countr. Content., I. xvi. (1668), 77. Shake down into the bottom of your Ponds good long Kids or Faggots of brush-wood.
1795. Trans. Soc. Arts, XIII. 151. The plants are supplied with much nourishment from the decay of the Kids in which they were planted.
1821. Clare, Vill. Minstr., II. 31. The woodman … bent away home with his kid on his back.
1851. Jrnl. R. Agric. Soc., XII. II. 352. Many are allowed to grow up bushy for the purpose of making long faggots or kids.
b. attrib. and Comb., as kid-bearer, -faggot, -pile, -stack, -wood; † kid-helm, a faggot-shed.
1477. in York Myst. (1885), Introd. 21, note. Kidberers, Garthyners, erthe wallers,… ground wallers with erthe.
1501. Searchers Verdict, in Surtees Misc. (1888), 22. Ather of theym shall have theyr esyng drop upon other … yat is to wit ye said Ric’ Thornton for his kid helme upon ye tenement or ground of ye said William Whyte.
1523. Fitzherb., Husb., § 134. To sell … the great woode by it self, and the kydde woode by it selfe.
1653. Manchester Crt. Leet Rec. (1887), IV. 105. No gorse Stacks or Kid-stackes should bee sett within or neare the houses in Towne.
1886. S. W. Linc. Gloss., s.v., ‘The rats find harbour undernean the kid-stack.’
