kye
See also: Kye
English edit
Etymology 1 edit
From Middle English ky, kye, from Old English cȳ (“cows”), plural of cū (“cow”). Cognate with Dutch koeien (“cows”), German Kühe (“cows”), Danish køer (“cows”), Icelandic kýr (“cows”). More at cow.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
kye
- (archaic or dialectal) plural of cow
- 1836, Joanna Baillie, Witchcraft, act 1:
- Ay, that I do, to my cost. She and her black cat, too, live owre near my milk kye, Brindle and Hawky gi' but half the milk they should gi', and we wat weel whare the ither half gangs to.
- 1932, Lewis Grassic Gibbon, Sunset Song (A Scots Quair), Polygon, published 2006, page 23:
- devil the move would the factor at Meikle House make to […] mend the roof of the byre that leaked like a sieve on the head of Mistress Munro when she milked the kye on a stormy night.
Etymology 2 edit
Alternative forms edit
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
kye (uncountable)
- (UK, naval slang) Cocoa (the drink).
- 2009, John Roberts, Safeguarding the Nation: The Story of the Modern Royal Navy:
- […] wrapped in layers of warm clothing against rushing icy air, and all longing for bubbling hot kye (Navy cocoa) at midnight.
- 2013, David Arnold, Hursey in Conflict: A Story of Love and Victory, page 73:
- Then he walked back to the wheelhouse. Guido arrived with three cups of kye and a plate of hot buttered toast.
Etymology 3 edit
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
kye (plural kyes)
Anagrams edit
Middle English edit
Etymology 1 edit
Noun edit
kye
- Alternative form of keye (“key”)
Etymology 2 edit
Noun edit
kye
- Alternative form of kie
Scots edit
Etymology 1 edit
From Old English cȳ.
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
kye
- plural of coo
- 1794, Robert Burns, The Highland Widow's Lament:
- For then I had a score o' kye, / Och-on, Och-on, Och-rie! / Feeding on yon hill sae high, / And giving milk to me.
- (please add an English translation of this quotation)
Etymology 2 edit
Pronunciation edit
Noun edit
kye (plural kyes)
- (South Scots) a key