Kind sb. World English Historical Dictionary

Kind sb. World English Historical Dictionary Dictionary Biographies Literary Criticism Welcome Terms of Service ⧏ Previous Next ⧐ Contents Slice Contents Key Bibliographic Record Murray’s New English Dictionary. 1901, rev. 2025. Kind sb. Forms: [1 ʓecynde, ʓecynd, 2–3 i-cunde, i-kunde (2 i-chinde);] 1 cynd, 2–4 cunde, 2 cuinde, 3 kuinde, kund, 3–4 kuynde, kunde, 3–5 kende, (5 keende), 3–6 kynd, 3–7 kinde, 4–7 kynde, (5 kyynde), 3– kind. [OE. ʓecynde n., ʓecynd fem. and n., f. ʓe- (see I-, Y-) + *cynd(e:—*kundi-z, f. the root kun- (see KIN1) + -di-, Aryan -ti-. OE. instances of cynd are doubtful, but the prefix disappeared early in ME., 1150–1250.

1     The only cognate sb. out of Eng. is a doubtful OS. gicund (suggested in Hel. 2476). But the adj. ending, Goth. -kunds, OS. -cund, OHG. -chund, -kund = OE. -cund ‘of the nature of,’ is found in the other langs.]

2   I.  Abstract senses.

3   † 1.  Birth, origin, descent. Obs.

4 a. 1000.  Hymns, ix. 52 (Gr.). Þurh clæne ʓecynd þu eart cyning on riht.

5   c. 1200.  Ormin, 7133. An child … þatt shall ben þiss Iudisskenn king All þurrh rihht abell kinde.

6 c. 1386.  Chaucer, Melib., ¶ 601. A free man by kynde or by [v.r. of] burthe.

7 c. 1415.  12 Art. Faith (MS. Soc. Antiq.). Iesu Christ his owne son through kind.

8 c. 1425.  Wyntoun, Cron., IX. xxvi. 41. 2751. His aire, that of kynd wes kyng.

9 c. 1463.  G. Ashby, Dicta Philos., 122. That they be free, nat bonde in kynde.

10 1649.  Milton, Eikon., xxviii. 238. His Grand-mother Mary, Queen of Scots,… from whom he seems to have learnt, as it were by heart, or els by kind,… his words and speeches heer.

11   † b.  Hence, through the phrases through, by, of kind: Right of birth, right or position derived from birth, inherited right. Obs.

12 c. 1205.  Lay., 25043. Heo … nu axeð mid icunde [c. 1275 þorh cunde] gauel of þissen londe.

13 1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 2231. Þer nis no mon þat kunde abbe þer to. Ibid., 6664. He adde somdel to engelond More kunde þan þe oþer. Ibid., 7276. Wo so were next king bi kunde, me clupede him aþeling.

14   † 2.  The station, place or property belonging to one by birth; one’s native place or position; that to which one has a natural right; birthright, heritage. Obs.

15 c. 888.  K. Ælfred, Boeth., xxv. Seo sunne … secð hire ʓecynde, & stiʓð … ufor & ufor oððe hio cymð swa up swa hire yfemest ʓecynde bið [cf. quot. Boeth. Metr. s.v. KIND a. 1 c].

16 a. 1100.  O. E. Chron. (Laud MS.), an. 1086. Normandiʓe þet land wæs his ʓecynde.

17 c. 1205.  Lay., 16279. Þat ich mote … biȝite mine ikunde [c. 1275 cunde]. Ibid., 21492. Cador cuðe þene wæi þe toward his cunde læi.

18 1340.  Ayenb., 37. Þe children … þet hi heþ be spousbreche, berþ away þe kende.

19   † b.  That which naturally belongs to or befits one. Obs.

20 c. 1470.  Henry, Wallace, I. 217. Ane Ersche mantill it war thi kynd to wer.

21 a. 1670.  Spalding, Troub. Chas. I. (Spald. Cl.), I. 199. Thay took ane of the tounes cullouris of Abirdein, and gave it to the toune of Abirbrothokis soldiours … quhilk wes not thair kynd to cary.

22   3.  The character or quality derived from birth or native constitution; natural disposition, nature. (Common down to c. 1600; in later use rare, and blending with sense 4.)

23 c. 888.  K. Ælfred, Boeth., xxxiv. § 11. Þa stanas … sint stillre ʓecynde & heardre. Ibid., xxxv. § 4. ʓif hio hire cynd [Bodl. MS. ʓecynd] healdan wille.

24 c. 1175.  Lamb. Hom., 51. Þis fis is of swulc cunde, þet [etc.].

25 c. 1200.  Ormin, 2675. Marȝess child wass mann & Godd, An had i twinne kinde.

26 a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 120. He uorleoseð monnes kunde, &… uorschuppeð him into bestes kunde.

27 c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 189. And euerilc on in kinde good, Ðor quiles adam fro sinne stod.

28 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 8452. Þe kind o thinges lerd he, Bath o tres, and gress fele.

29 1387.  Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), VI. 131. In Crist beeþ tweie willes and tweie kyndes of þe Godhede and manhede.

30 c. 1491.  Chast. Goddes Chyld., 12. In some men the bodely kynde is feblid by a soden heuynes.

31 a. 1547.  Surrey, On Lady refusing to dance, in Tottel’s Misc. (Arb.), 219. My kinde is to desire the honoure of the field.

32 1590.  Spenser, F. Q., II. ii. 36. But young Perissa was of other mynd … And quite contrary to her sisters kynd.

33 1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., II. 326. Sweet Grapes degen’rate there, and Fruits … renounce their Kind.

34 1784.  Cowper, Tiroc., 6. Th’ associate of a mind Vast in its pow’rs, ethereal in its kind.

35 1857.  Buckle, Civiliz., I. viii. 524. For as to the men themselves, they merely acted after their kind.

36   † b.  Of his (own) kind: by its (own) nature, of itself, naturally. Obs. rare.

37 1399.  Langl., Rich. Redeles, III. 19. Þis beste, of his kinde, Secheth and sercheth þo schrewed wormes.

38 1530.  Rastell, Bk. Purgat., II. x. The soule shall … perceyve of hys owne kynde.

39 1578.  Lyte, Dodoens, II. lx. 227. Hyssope groweth not of his owne kinde in this countrey.

40 1610.  Shaks., Temp., II. i. 163. Nature should bring forth, Of it owne kinde, all foyzon.

41   † c.  To do (or work) one’s kind: To act according to one’s nature; to do what is natural to one; spec. to perform the sexual function. Obs.

42 c. 1230.  Hali Meid., 25. Leasse þen beastes ȝet, for þeos doð hare cunde … in a time of þe ȝer.

43 1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 6576. Þat water dude uorþ is kunde & was euere uaste. Ibid., 8353. Mid wimmen of painime hii dude hor foule kunde.

44 c. 1430.  Hymns Virg., 83. Þe kinde of childhode y dide also, Wiþ my felawis to fiȝte and þrete.

45 1554–9.  Songs & Ball. (1860), 1. Fortune worketh but her kynde, To make the joyfull dolorus.

46 a. 1612.  Harington, Salerne’s Regim. (1634), 36. The stones of young beasts that be not able to doe their kinde.

47 1647.  Crashaw, Poems, 184. Let froward dust then do its kind.

48   † d.  To grow (also go, swerve, etc.) out of kind: To lose the character appropriate to one’s birth and family; to degenerate. Obs.

49 a. 1547.  Surrey, Æneid, II. 714. Neoptolem is swarved out of kind.

50 1549.  Coverdale, etc. Erasm. Par. Heb. 20. Neither dyd Ioseph growe out of kynde, & become vnlike his auncestours in faith.

51 1573.  Tusser, Husb. (1878), 100. So garden with orchard and hopyard … That want the like benefit, growe out of kinde.

52 1587.  Golding, De Mornay, xvi. 254. God created man to be to him as a child, and man is growne out of kinde.

53   † 4.  Nature in general, or in the abstract, regarded as the established order or regular course of things (rerum natura). Rarely with the. Freq. in phr. law or course of kind. Obs. (exc. as conscious archaism.)

54 c. 888.  K. Ælfred, Boeth., xiv. § 1. On swiðe lytlon hiera hæfð seo ʓecynd ʓenoʓ. Ibid., xvi. § 3. Seo ʓecynd hit onscunað þæt [etc.].

55 c. 1230.  Hali Meid., 45. Ichulle halde me hal þurh þe grace of godd, as cunde me makede.

56 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 28491. Ic … haf i broken … þe lagh o kynd thoru licheri.

57 1387.  Trevisa, Higden (Rolls), i. 335. Kynde bryngeþ hem [barnacle-geese] forþ wonderliche out of trees, as it were kynde worchynge aȝenst kynde.

58 c. 1400.  Maundev. (Roxb.), xxxii. 144. Many … diez for pure elde withouten sekeness, when þe kynde failez.

59 a. 1412[?].  Lydg., Two Merch., 75. So strong of nature is the myhty corde. Kynde is in werkyng a ful myhty lorde.

60 1583.  T. Watson, Centurie of Loue, lxxviii. Venus … will have it so That Louers wanting sight shall followe kinde.

61 1596.  Shaks., Merch. V., I. iii. 86. And in the dooing of the deede of kinde, He stucke them vp before the fulsome Ewes.

62 1674.  N. Fairfax, Bulk & Selv., Contents. God holds us by laws of kind as we do others by those of right. Ibid., 124. Those bounds that Dame Kind before had pitcht upon.

63 1868.  Morris, Earthly Par., I. 90. O ye who sought to find Unending life against the law of Kind.

64   † b.  Phrases. By (by way of), of, through, (rarely in) kind, by nature, naturally; against or out of kind, contrary to, or in violation of, nature.

65   In these phrases the distinction between 3 and 4 tends to fade away.

66 a. 1000.  Boeth. Metr., xiii. 17. Þara micles to feola … winð wið ʓecynde.

67 a. 1000.  Hymns, vii. 24 (Gr.). Þin weorc … þurh ʓecynd clypiað and crist heriað.

68 a. 1121.  O. E. Chron. (Laud MS.), an. 1107. Maneʓe sædon þet hi on þam monan … tacna ʓesawon, & onʓean cynde his leoman wexende & waniende.

69 c. 1200.  Ormin, 2320. All swa maȝȝ Godd don þe full wel To childenn gæness kinde.

70 a. 1225.  Leg. Kath., 297. Engles & sawlen, þurh þet ha bigunnen, Ahten … endin þurh cunde.

71 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 2889. Oute of kind þe sin was don.

72 c. 1384.  Chaucer, H. Fame, II. 241. Every Ryver to the see Enclyned ys to goo by kynde. Ibid. (c. 1386), Frankl. T., 40. Wommen of kynde desiren libertee.

73 1493.  Festivall (1515), 66 b. At mydnyghte our lorde was borne, for by kynde all thynge was in peas and rest.

74 1575.  Gamm. Gurton, in Hazl., Dodsley, III. 210. She is given to it of kind.

75 1658.  J. Jones, Ovid’s Ibis, 55. When bloud toucheth bloud in this kind, it is abominable out of kind.

76 1714.  Gay, Sheph. Week, Thursday 37. Last Valentine, the day when birds of kind Their paramours with mutual chirpings find.

77 1792.  Burns, She’s Fair & Fause, ii. Nae ferlie ’tis tho’ fickle she prove, A woman has’t by kind.

78   † 5.  Natural state, form or condition. Obs.

79 a. 1000.  Boeth. Metr., xxviii. 62. Sona ʓecerreð ismere … on his aʓen ʓecynd, weorðeð to wætere.

80 a. 1340.  Hampole, Psalter cxviii. 70. Mylk in þe kynd is fayre & clere, bot in lopirynge it waxis soure.

81 a. 1380.  St. Ambrose, 538, in Horstm., Altengl. Leg. (1878), 16. His face … lyk to snouh hit wox al whit, But aftur to his oune kynde [L. ad suam speciem] turned hit.

82 c. 1400.  Maundev. (Roxb.), iv. 12. Þan sall scho turne agayne to hir awen kynde [F. estat] and be a woman [cf. 14 in to hir riȝt schappe, F. fourme].

83   † b.  In kind, in proper or good condition; out of kind, out of order, in bad condition. Obs.

84 1393.  Langl., P. Pl., C. III. 247. Thi kyngdom þorw here couetyse wol out of kynde wende.

85 c. 1400.  Lanfranc’s Cirurg., 2. Of a wounde bollid and out of kynde.

86 1602.  Carew, Cornwall, 31. The countrie people long retained a conceit, that in summer time they weare out of kind.

87 1623.  Cockeram, III. s.v. Isæan Riuer, Salmon, which is euer in kind all times of the yeare.

88   † 6.  A natural quality, property or characteristic.

89 c. 888.  K. Ælfred, Boeth., xxxiii. § 5. Vðwitan secʓað þæt hio [sio sawul] hæbbe þrio ʓecynd…. Twa þara ʓecynda habbað netenu swa same swa men.

90 c. 1220.  Bestiary, 15. An oðer kinde he haueð, wan he is ikindled Stille lið ðe leun.

91 a. 1225.  Ancr. R., 126. Þe pellican … haueð anoðer cunde: þet is, þet hit is euer leane.

92 c. 1340.  Hampole, Prose Tr., 8. The bee has thre kyndis. Ane es that scho es neuer ydill.

93 c. 1400.  Maundev. (1839), xxx. 302. And thei han this kynde [F. nature] that thei lete nothing ben empty among hem.

94   † 7.  Gender; sex; = KIN1 7. (L. genus.) Obs.

95 a. 1000.  Phœnix, 356. God ana wat … hu his ʓecynde byð, wifhades þe weres.

96 a. 1380.  Virgin Antioch, 387, in Horstm., Altengl. Leg. (1878), 32. In to wyn Crist torned þe watur, And nou he leueþ not beohynde For to chaunge monnes kynde [L. sexum].

97 1393.  Langl., P. Pl., C. IV. 339. As adiectif and substantyf vnite asken, Acordaunce in kynde, in cas and in numbre.

98 1551.  Robinson, trans. More’s Utopia, II. ix. (1895), 293. All they which be of the male kind … sitte before the goodman of ye house, and they of the female kynde before the goodwyfe.

99 1584.  Cogan, Haven Health (1636), 136 b. The opinion which some hold, that every hare should bee of both kindes, that is, male and female.

100 1590.  Spenser, F. Q., III. ii. 4. To aske … what inquest Made her dissemble her disguised kind.

101   † b.  The sexual organs. (L. natura.) Obs. rare.

102 c. 1000.  Ælfric, Gen. ix. 23. Sem and Iafeth … beheledon heora fæderes ʓecynd [cf. 22 ʓesceapu].

103 a. 1325.  Life Adam, 110, in Horstm., Altengl. Leg. (1878), 140. Aiþer of oþer aschamed was And hiled her kinde wiþ more and gras.

104   † c.  The semen. Obs. rare.

105 a. 1450.  Myrc, 1046. Take also wel in mynde, Ȝef þou haue sched þyn owne kynde Slepynge or wakynge.

106 1552.  Huloet, Kynde naturall of euerye thynge, semen.

107   8.  The manner or way natural or proper to any one; hence, mode of action; manner, way, fashion. Freq. in phr. in any, no, some, that, this kind; in a kind, in a way. Common in 17th c.; now arth.

108 a. 900.  O. E. Martyrol., 25 Dec., 2. Þy ʓeare maniʓ seah … lamb spæcan on mennisc ʓecynde.

109 a. 1000.  Salomon & Sat., 499. Swa ðonne feohteð se feond on feower ʓecynd.

110 a. 1330.  Roland & V., 310. Braunches of vines Charls sett, In marche moneþ … As was þe riȝt kende.

111 c. 1374.  Chaucer, Troylus, II. 904 (855). Þis þyng, stant al in a noþer kynde.

112 1483.  Caxton, G. de la Tour, xxi. L iij. An ordenaunce of a moche sauage and wyld guyse and ageynst the kynde of the tyme.

113 c. 1560.  A. Scott, Poems (S. T. S.), iii. 4. Cast ȝow to conqueiss luve ane vþir kind.

114 1593.  Drayton, Eclogues, x. 71. The Birds and Beasts yet in their simple Kinde Lament for me.

115 1631.  Gouge, God’s Arrows, III. § 75. 325. Such was Deborahs and Baraks kind of praising God.

116 1646.  Evance, Noble Ord., 29. The worke … tended in a kinde to Gods honour.

117 1691.  T. H[ale], Acc. New Invent., 31. Being in no kind desirous that his Majesty should be under any Obligation.

118 1709.  Steele, Tatler, No. 47, ¶ 3. I have done Wonders in this Kind.

119 1766.  Fordyce, Serm. Yng. Wom., Pref. Nothing in the kind … having been endeavoured before.

120 1803–6.  Wordsw., Intimations, vi. Yearnings she hath in her own natural kind.

121 1859.  Tennyson, Elaine, 321. Mirthful he, but in a stately kind.

122   9.  Character as determining the class to which a thing belongs (cf. sense 13); generic or specific nature or quality; esp. in phr. in kind (rendering L. in genere or in specie), used with reference to agreement or difference between things, and freq. contrasted with in degree.

123 1628.  Ford, Lover’s Mel., III. iii. Pray, my lord, [Gives the paper-plot] Hold and observe the plot; ’tis there express’d In kind, what shall be now express’d in action.

124 1663.  Butler, Hud., I. iii. 1279. Though they do agree in kind, Specifick difference we find.

125 1665.  Boyle, Occas. Refl., II. iii. (1848), 104. ’Tis all one … whether our Afflictions be the same with those of others, in Kind, or not Superiour to them in Degree.

126 1827.  Pollok, Course T., VIII. All faith was one: in object, not in kind, The difference lay.

127 1868.  Nettleship, Browning, iii. 105. There are such wide differences in degree as to constitute almost differences in kind.

128   II.  A class, group or division of things.

129   In this branch the senses of kind originally ran closely parallel with those of KIN; but later usage has so differentiated the words that there is now very little overlapping.

130   10.  A race, or a natural group of animals or plants having a common origin; = KIN1 5. Cf. MANKIND, etc.

131 c. 888.  K. Ælfred, Boeth., xxxv. § 4. Nis nan ʓecynd þe wið hire scippendes willan winne buton dysiʓ mon.

132 971.  Blickl. Hom., 37. Ne forseoh þu næfre þine ʓecynd.

133 a. 1000.  Elene, 735. Ne mæʓ þær manna ʓecynd of eorðweʓum up ʓeferan.

134 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 14909 (Gött.). Þat he for manes [Cott. mans] kind wil dei.

135 13[?].  Leg. Rood, 145. Til God þat dyed for vch a kuynde For Monnes kuynde deyde.

136 c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 4300. Goddes son of heuyn … come to our kynde throgh a cleane Maydon.

137 a. 1577.  Sir T. Smith, Commw. Eng. (1633), 25. Without this society of man and woman the kind of man could not long endure.

138 1592.  Shaks., Ven. & Ad., 1018. Till mutual overthrow of mortal kind. Ibid. (1610), Temp., V. i. 23. My selfe, one of their kinde.

139 1667.  Milton, P. L., VI. 73. As when the total kind Of Birds … Came summond over Eden.

140 1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., I. 95. Whence Men, a hard laborious Kind were born.

141 1726.  G. Roberts, Four Years Voy., 153. They would sooner starve than eat any Thing that lived upon human Kind.

142 1774.  Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1862), I. 239. The Rabbit kind.

143 1784.  Cowper, Task, V. 69. The sparrows … often scared As oft return, a pert voracious kind.

144 1816.  Byron, Ch. Har., III. xxxi. Each … a ghastly gap did make In his own kind and kindred.

145 1876.  Morris, Sigurd, III. 212. The cunning of the Dwarf-kind.

146   b.  Used in poetry, with defining word, in the general sense of ‘race.’

147 1362.  Langl., P. Pl., A. XI. 282. Poule þe apostil þat no pite ne hadde, Cristene kynde to kille to deþe.

148 1599.  Shaks., Hen. V., II. i. 80. Fetch forth the Lazar Kite of Cressids kinde.

149 1735.  Somerville, Chase, III. 309. Thus Man innum’rous Engines forms, t’ assail The savage Kind.

150 1739.  Collins, Ep. Hanmer, 138. Poets ever were a careless kind.

151 1847.  Emerson, Poems (1857), 207. The men are ripe of Saxon kind To build an equal state.

152   † c.  A class (of human beings or animals) of the same sex; a sex (in collective sense). Obs.

153 1552.  Huloet, s.v., Sexus fœmineus, womankinde, or the female kynde.

154 1564.  trans. Jewel’s Apol., Ded., J.’s Wks. (Parker Soc.), 51. Besides the honour ye have done to the kind of women…, ye have done pleasure to the author of the Latin work.

155 1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 332. Far from the Charms of that alluring Kind.

156 1735.  Pope, Ep. Lady, 207. In Men, we various Ruling Passions find; In Women, two almost divide the kind.

157   † 11.  A subdivision of a race of the same descent; a family, clan, tribe, etc. Also (with possessive pron.), One’s family, clan, kin or kinsfolk. = KIN1 1, KINDRED 2. Obs.

158 c. 1205.  Lay., 23176. King heo wolden habben of seoluen heore cunden.

159 1297.  R. Glouc. (Rolls), 3434. King he was of westsex, & is ofspring al so, & atte laste þulke kunde alle þe oþere wan þer to.

160 13[?].  Minor Poems fr. Vernon MS., 249. At þe grete day of dome … þei schul sitte on twelf seges wel And Iugge þe twelf kuyndes of Israel.

161 1513.  Douglas, Æneis, XII. xiii. 111. The kynd of men discend from thir Troianis, Mydlyt with kyn of the Italianis.

162 1596.  Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., I. 76. The affectione that ilk had to his awne kinde.

163 1697.  Dryden, Virg. Georg., III. 433. The Parent Wind, Without the Stallion, propagates the Kind.

164   † b.  Offspring, brood, progeny; descendants; = KIN1 1 b, KINDRED 2 b. Obs.

165 c. 1000.  Narrat. Angl. Conscript. (Cockayne), 35. Hyra ʓecynda on weorold bringaþ.

166 c. 1250.  Gen. & Ex., 650. And or he was on werlde led, His kinde was wel wide spred.

167 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 14864. Vr crist suld be born o bethleem, o dauid kind.

168 1393.  Langl., P. Pl., C. XIX. 224. A book of þe olde lawe, Þat a-corsed alle couples þat no kynde forth brouhte.

169 c. 1460.  Towneley Myst., vi. 21. I shall thi seede multyply,… The kynd of the shall sprede wide.

170 1582.  N. T. (Rhem.), Acts xvii. 28. Of his kinde also we are.

171   † c.  A generation; = KIN1 1 c, KINDRED 2 c. Obs. rare.

172 a. 1325.  Prose Psalter lxxxviii[i]. 2. Y shal tellen þy soþenesses in my mouþe fro kynde to kynde.

173 1526.  Tindale, Luke xvi. 8. The chyldren of this worlde are in their kynde, wyser then the chyldren of light [so Geneva 1557].

174   † d.  Descent, genealogy; = KIN1 1 d, KINDRED Obs. rare.

175 c. 1330.  R. Brunne, Chron. Wace (Rolls), 363. Þys ys þe kynde, fro gre til gre, Bytwyxten Eneas & Noe.

176   12.  The family, ancestral race, or stock from which one springs; = KIN1 2, KINDRED 3. arch.

177 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 10161. Sir Ioachim o kinges kind Was commin.

178 c. 1330.  Amis & Amil., 8. Here faders were barouns hende, Lordynges y-come of grete kende.

179 c. 1386.  Chaucer, Sec. Nun’s T., 121. Cecilie … Was comen of Romayns and of noble kynde.

180 1608.  Shaks., Per., V. i. 68. [If she] came of a gentle kind and noble stock.

181 1724.  Ramsay, Tea-t. Misc. (1733), I. 114. My Cromie is a useful cow And she is come of a good kyne.

182 1816.  Scott, Antiq., xl. The oyster loves the dredging sang, For they come of a gentle kind.

183 1854–6.  Patmore, Angel in Ho., II. II. (1866), 244. Good families are so, Less through their coming of good kind, Than [etc.].

184   13.  A class of individuals or objects distinguished by attributes possessed in common; a genus or species; also, in vaguer sense: A sort, variety or description. (= L. genus.) Now the chief sense.

185   Something of the kind, something like the thing in question; nothing of the kind, nothing at all like it. Of a kind, of some sort, not a typical or perfect specimen of the class.

186 a. 1000.  Guthlac, 15 (Gr.). Of wlite wendað wæstma ʓecyndu.

187 a. 1300.  Cursor M., 8040. Bi frut and leef bath moght man see O quatkin kind was ilk[a] tre.

188 13[?].  E. E. Allit. P., B. 507. He … heuened vp an auter … & sette a sakerfyse þer-on of vch a ser kynde.

189 c. 1400.  Apol. Loll., 90. Þe heþun men had sex kyndis of similacris.

190 c. 1400.  Destr. Troy, 8746. The tabernacle … was atiryt … with triet stones, Of all kyndes.

191 1529.  Supplic. to King (E.E.T.S.), 22. The Apostle Paul … descrybeth two kyndes of doctrynes.

192 1652.  Culpepper, Eng. Physic., 8. The most usual Kindes of Apples.

193 1694.  Acc. Sev. Late Voy., II. (1711), 79. I saw but this one of the Kind.

194 1732.  Berkeley, Alciphr., II. § 7. Suppose you saw a fruit of a new untried kind.

195 1774.  Goldsm., Nat. Hist. (1776), IV. 321. Of the bear, there are three different kinds.

196 1845.  M. Pattison, Ess. (1889), I. 13. Barbarisms and solecisms of all kinds abound.

197 1862.  Trollope, Orley F., xiv. 111. There was never anything of the kind before.

198 1871.  Freeman, Norm. Conq. (1876), IV. xvii. 55. Something of the kind had been done.

199 1875.  Jowett, Plato (ed. 2), IV. 6. Before we can reply with exactness, we must know the kinds of pleasure and the kinds of knowledge.

200 1895.  Scot. Antiq., X. 79. They had haversacks of a kind with them, but very little in them.

201   b.  Eccl. In phrase in (under, † with) one kind, both kinds (= med.L. species), referring to each of the elements (bread and wine) used in the sacrament of the Eucharist.

202 1539.  Act 31 Hen. VIII., c. 14. Whether it be necessary … that al men should be communicate with bothe kindes or no.

203 1635.  Pagitt, Christianogr., I. iii. (1636), 104. They must communicate in both kindes, both of the bread and the wine.

204 a. 1770.  Jortin, Serm. (1771), V. xiii. 293. The Church of Rome gives the Communion in one kind.

205 1869.  Freeman, Norm. Conq., III. xi. 16, note. Communion in both kinds was certainly usual at this time.

206 1880.  Littledale, Plain Reas., xxviii. 76. Christ is received entire under each kind.

207   14.  Kind of. Later usage transposes the syntactical relation in such constructions as all kinds of trees = ‘trees of all kinds,’ this kind of thing = ‘a thing of this kind.’ For the history of this, see KIN1 6 b.

208   As the original genitive phrase was in attrib. relation to the following sb., the natural tendency is still to treat all kind of, no kind of, what kind of, etc. (like ME. alkin, nakin, whatkin), and, hence also, the simple kind of (colloq. kind o’, kind a, kinder), as an attrib. or adj. phrase qualifying the sb. Hence the uses in b, c, d.

209 c. 1470.  K. Estmere, 193, in Percy’s Rel. He lett for no kind of thyng.

210 15[?].  Sir Andrew Barton, xxxviii. in Surtees Misc. (1888), 74. They came fore noe kind of thinge, But Sir Andrewe Barton they would see.

211 a. 1548.  Hall, Chron., Hen. VII., 3 b. A newe kynde of sicknes came sodenly into this Isle.

212 a. 1568.  Ascham, Scholem., II. (Arb.), 157. A grekysh kind of writing.

213 1583.  T. Watson, Centurie of Loue, xcviii. Learne of me, what kinde a thing is Loue.

214 1596.  Dalrymple, trans. Leslie’s Hist. Scot., IV. 244. Vtterlie abiecteng al kynd of hope of ony helth.

215 c. 1645.  Howell, Lett., II. liv. ’Twixt the rind and the Tree there is a Cotton or hempy kind of Moss.

216 1705.  Addison, Italy, Pref. Vast Collections of all Kinds of Antiquities.

217 1798.  Ferriar, Illustr. Sterne, vi. 166. They must be a different kind of people.

218 1840.  Dickens, Old C. Shop, ii. In a secret, stealthy … kind of way.

219 1857.  Maurice, Ep. St. John, ii. 25. See whether this is not the kind of thing that he is telling us in all of them.

220 Mod.  Few people have any notion what kind of life many of the poor live.

221   b.  The feeling that kind of was equivalent to an adj. qualifying the following sb., led to the use of all, many, other, these, those, and the like, with a plural verb and pronoun, when the sb. was plural, as in these kind of men have their use. This is still common colloquially, though considered grammatically incorrect.

222   (Cf. the ME. use of alkin, manykin, serekin, etc.: see KIN. In quot. 1648, other kind is for the earlier other kin.)

223 1382.  Wyclif, Matt. xiii. 47. A nette sent in to the see, and of alle kynd of fishis gedrynge.

224 1564.  Brief Exam., B iv b. It is not lawfull to vse these kinde of vestures.

225 1586.  Ld. Burghley, in Leycester Corr. (Camden), 360. Fittest to impeche thos kind of havens.

226 1605.  Shaks., Lear, II. ii. 107. These kind of Knaues I know.

227 a. 1648.  Ld. Herbert, Hen. VIII. (1683), 543. Because of his Nephew’s minority, and other kind reasons.

228 1672.  Wilkins, Nat. Relig., 378. Of vertues containing in their very essence these kind of inward felicities.

229 1681.  T. Flatman, Heraclitus Ridens, No. 43 (1713), II. 27. Such kind of Pamphlets work Wonders with the credulous Multitude.

230 1797.  Holcroft, Stolberg’s Trav. (ed. 2), III. lxxxii. 323. These kind of barracks … are … more expensive.

231 Mod.  What kind of trees are those?

232   c.  A kind of...: A sort of…; a (person or thing) of a kind; an individual that is, or may be, included in the class in question, though not possessing its full characteristics.

233   A kind of gentleman and a gentleman of a kind differ in that the former expresses approach to the type, admitting failure to reach it, while the latter emphasizes the non-typical position of the individual. Hence, a kind of may be used as a saving qualification, as in ‘a kind of knave.’

234 1591.  Shaks., Two Gent., III. i. 262. I haue the wit to thinke my Master is a kinde of a knaue. Ibid. (1598), Merry W., I. i. 215. There is as ’twere a tender, a kinde of tender, made a farre-off by Sir Hugh here.

235 1670.  Narborough, Jrnl., in Acc. Sev. Late Voy., I. (1711), 81. Very little Grass, the Woods are so thick; much kind of long sedgy Grass.

236 1719.  De Foe, Crusoe, II. xvi. I … thought myself a kind of a monarch.

237 1734.  trans. Rollin’s Anc. Hist. (1827), II. II. 110. Only a kind of huts were built there.

238 1761.  Wesley, Jrnl., 10 June. One, a kind of gentleman, seemed displeased.

239 1824.  Miss Mitford, Village, Ser. I. (1868), 94. Dash is a sort of a kind of a spaniel.

240 1832.  L. Hunt, Poems, Pomfret’s ‘Choice.’ A pretty kind of sort of kind of thing.

241 1860.  Tyndall, Glac., I. ix. 62. The rock … bent by the pressure so as to form a kind of arch.

242   d.  colloq. Kind of (vulgarly kind o’, kind a’, kinder, etc.) is used adverbially: In a way, as it were, to some extent.

243   The adverbial use arises out of the adjectival: cf. ‘She was a mother of a kind to me,’ ‘She was a kind of mother to me,’ ‘she kind o’ mothered me.’

244 1849.  Dickens, Dav. Copp., lxiii. ‘Theer’s been kiender a blessing fell upon us,’ said Mr. Peggotty.

245 1857.  J. G. Holland, Bay Path, x. 120. I kind a’ backed him down, I thought.

246 1861.  Lever, One of Them, xvi. 125. This is a kinder droll way to welcome a friend.

247 1871.  W. Alexander, Johnny Gibb, ix. (1892), 56. He’s jist a kin’ o’ daumer’t i’ the heid like.

248 1885.  Howells, Silas Lapham (1891), I. 105. Didn’t you like the way his sack-coat set?… kind of peeling away at the lapels?

249 1889.  ‘R. Boldrewood,’ Robbery under Arms (1890), xxx. 236. I kinder expected it.

250 Mod. Sc.  It has a kind o’ sour taste.

251   15.  In kind (rendering L. in specie: see SPECIE). a. In the very kind of article or commodity in question; usually of payment: In goods or natural produce, as opposed to money.

252 1622.  Bacon, Hen. VII., 171. Hee did (by open Edict) giue the goods of all the Prisoners, vnto those that had taken them; either to take them in Kind, or compound for them as they could.

253 1670.  Walton, Lives, II. 125. His very Food and Raiment were provided for him in kind.

254 1727.  Swift, To Earl of Oxford. The farmers … Force him to take his tythes in kind.

255 a. 1862.  Buckle, Civiliz. (1869), III. v. 329. Their revenues were mostly paid, not in money, but in kind, such as corn, wine and cattle.

256   b.  Of repayment: In something of the same kind as that received. Chiefly fig.

257 1726.  G. Roberts, Four Years Voy., Ded. A ij. Obligations you have laid me under,… I despair of ever having the Opportunity to return them in Kind.

258 1819.  Scott, Ivanhoe, xli. The best of them are most willing to repay my follies in kind.

259 1867.  Freeman, Norm. Conq., I. iv. 199. These incursions were more than repaid in kind.

260   III.  16. attrib. and Comb., as † kind-blind a., blind by nature; † kindlike a., of like nature or character; natural; kind payment, payment in kind, or in natural produce instead of coin.

261 1608.  Sylvester, Du Bartas, II. iv. IV. Decay, 923. Imitating right The *Kinde-blinde Beast [the mole], in russet Velvet dight.

262 1579.  J. Stubbes, Gaping Gulf, B viij b. Shall a French hart be *kindlike enough to rule our Queene?

263 1823.  Scott, Quentin D., vii. It was but natural and kindlike to help your young kinsman.

264 1828.  P. Cunningham, N. S. Wales (ed. 3), II. 81. The Bank establishment … will, in all probability, ultimately extirpate even kind payments in part.

265 1883.  G. Culley, in Trans. Highland Soc. Agric., Ser. IV. XV. 7. That part of my district in which the kind payment is most developed.

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