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Karibat . food, literally rice and curry; the staple dish of both natives and Europeans in India.—_Anglo-Indian._
Keel-hauling . a good thrashing or mauling, rough treatment,—from the old nautical custom of punishing offenders by throwing them overboard with a rope attached, and hauling them up from under the ship’s keel. See full description of this barbarous practice in Marryat’s _Snarleyyow_.
Keep a pig . an Oxford University phrase, which means to have a lodger. A man whose rooms contain two bedchambers has sometimes, when his college is full, to allow the use of one of them to a Freshman, who is called under these circumstances a PIG. The original occupier is then said to KEEP A PIG.
Keep it up . to prolong a debauch, or the occasion of a rejoicing,—a metaphor drawn from the game of shuttlecock. People suffering from the effects of drink are said to have been KEEPING IT UP.—_Grose._
Kelter . coin, money. Probably from GELT.
Ken . a house.—_Ancient cant._ KHAN, _Gipsy_ and _Oriental_.
Kennedy . a poker; to “give KENNEDY” is to strike or kill with a poker. A St. Giles’s term, so given from a man of that name being killed by a poker.
Kent rag . or CLOUT, a cotton handkerchief.
Kervorten . a Cockneyism for QUARTERN or quarter-pint measure. “KERVORTEN and three houts,” a quartern of liquor and glasses, each holding a third of the quantity.
Ketch . or JACK KETCH, the popular name for a public hangman; derived from a person of that name who officiated in the reign of Charles II.—_See Macaulay’s History of England._
Kettle of fish . a mess or muddle of any kind. As, “Here’s a pretty KETTLE OF FISH!”
Key of the street . an imaginary instrument said to be possessed by any one locked out of doors.
Kibosh . nonsense, stuff, humbug; “it’s all KIBOSH,” _i.e._, palaver or nonsense; to “put on the KIBOSH,” to run down, slander, degrade, &c. To put the KIBOSH on anything is, latterly, to put an effectual end or stop to it.
Kick . a moment; “I’ll be there in a KICK,” _i.e._, in a moment.
Kick . a pocket; _Gaelic_, CUACH, a bowl, a nest; _Scotch_, QUAIGH.
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