Obs. Also 6 kydcote, -cott(e, kidcot, 7–8 -coat. [app. f. KID sb.1 + COT, COTE.
The origin of the appellation is not certain; perhaps facetious; possibly transferred from one prison so named to others, as in the case of Bridewell. Cf. KITTY4.]
The name formerly given in various towns (as York, Lancaster, etc.) to the lock-up or prison.
c. 1515. Test. Ebor. (Surtees), V. 70. To the kydcotte and the masyndew, viijd.
c. 1540. Surv. Bridlington Priory, in Archæol., XIX. 271. In the north syde of the same gatehouse ys there a prison for offenders within the towne called the kydcott.
1605. T. Bell, Motives conc. Romish Faith, 106. Did not old Sir Iohn in the kidcote at Yorke so agree with Comberforth the priest…?
1772. in Stark, Hist. Gainsborough, 285. That they procure a pair of moveable stocks to be kept in the kidcoat.
1886. E. Peacock, Lett. to Editor. My father could remember the old kidcote at Gainsborough. It was not used as a prison in his time, but there was a tradition that it had been.
