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kettle

Pronunciation: /ˈkɛ.təl/

The English word “kettle” has 13 meanings listed here.

noun

  1. A vessel for boiling a liquid or cooking food, usually metal and equipped with a lid.
  2. The quantity held by a kettle.
  3. A vessel or appliance used to boil water for the preparation of hot beverages and other foodstuffs.
  4. A kettle hole, sometimes any pothole.
  5. A group of raptors swirling and spiraling upward as they ride a thermal, especially when migrating.
  6. A steam locomotive.
  7. A kettledrum.
  8. An instance of kettling; a group of protesters or rioters confined in a limited area.
  9. A watch (timepiece).
  10. A bucket for holding a quantity of paint during the painting process.
  11. A type of encirclement.

verb

  1. To contain demonstrators in a confined area.
  2. Of a boiler: to make a whistling sound like the boiling of a kettle, indicative of various types of fault.

Etymology

From Middle English ketel, also chetel, from Old English ċietel (“kettle, cauldron”) and in Middle English possibly influenced by Old Norse ketill and both from Proto-Germanic *katilaz (“kettle, bucket, vessel”), of uncertain origin and formation. Usually regarded as a borrowing of Late Latin catīllus (“small bowl”), diminutive of Latin catinus (“deep bowl, vessel for cooking up or serving…

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