[? variant of KIT sb.1]
1. A small wooden tub for domestic use; esp. a sailor’s mess-tub.
1769. Falconer, Dict. Marine (1789), Corbeillon, a small kid, or tub, to contain the biscuit … distributed to the several messes.
1833. Marryat, P. Simple, xii. One of the ship’s boys going forward with a kid of dirty water to empty in the head.
1873. Act 36 & 37 Vict., c. 88. Sched. i. A greater quantity of mess tubs or kids than are requisite for the use of the crew.
2. A pannier or basket for rubbish. dial.
1847–78. Halliwell, Dict.
3. A box or wooden pen constructed on the deck of a fishing-vessel to receive fish as they are caught (U.S.).
1890. in Century Dict.
Hence Kidful, as much as a kid will hold.
1811. W. Marshall, Review, III. 111 (E. D. D.). A kidful of the thick water.
