kecksy
English
editEtymology
editPossibly from kex, putatively meaning "something inedible or that causes one to gag," from keck (“to retch”)[1]
Noun
editkecksy (plural kecksies)
- The hollow stalk of an umbelliferous plant, such as the hemlock.
- 1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Life of Henry the Fift”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene ii]:
- […] Conceives by idleness; and nothing teems, / But hateful docks, rough thistles, kecksies, burs, / Losing both beauty and utility.
See also
editReferences
edit- ^ 1833, T. F. Thiselton-Dyer, Folk-Lore of Shakespeare, 2004, Facsimile Reprint, page 212 — It has been suggested that kecksies may be a mistaken form of the plural kex ; and that kex may have been formed from keck, something so dry that the eater would keck at it, or be unable to swallow it.