kettle

[ket-l] /ˈkɛt l/
noun
1.
a metal container in which to boil liquids, cook foods, etc.; pot.
2.
a teakettle.
3.
a kettledrum.
4.
Geology, kettle hole.
Origin
before 900; Middle English ketel < Old Norse ketill ≪ Latin catillus, diminutive of catīnus pot; replacing Old English cetel, cietel ≪ Latin as above; compare German Kessel
Examples from the web for kettle
  • The origins of life are an entirely different kettle of fish.
  • Put into a preserving kettle, and add enough water to nearly cover.
  • Getting those molecules to stick only to tumour cells, though, is a different kettle of fish.
  • At some point, the entire reactor inside the pressure vessel was above the waterline: the kettle had boiled dry.
  • Add cold water to cover and salt to taste to each kettle.
  • Inside the cell were teacups and an electric kettle, arranged on a doily.
  • He has sown his wild oats and finds himself undismayed, but nevertheless with a pretty kettle of fish in his palatial cauldrons.
  • In a heavy kettle cook onion in butter over moderately low heat, stirring until softened.
  • A kettle vapor condenser is often nothing more than a plate heat exchanger.
British Dictionary definitions for kettle

kettle

/ˈkɛtəl/
noun
1.
a metal or plastic container with a handle and spout for boiling water
2.
any of various metal containers for heating liquids, cooking fish, etc
3.
a large metal vessel designed to withstand high temperatures, used in various industrial processes such as refining and brewing
4.
(Brit, informal) an enclosed space formed by a police cordon in order to contain people involved in a public demonstration
5.
short for kettle hole
verb
6.
(transitive) (Brit, informal) (of a police force) to contain (people involved in a public demonstration) in an enclosed space
Word Origin
C13: from Old Norse ketill; related to Old English cietel kettle, Old High German kezzil; all ultimately from Latin catillus a little pot, from catīnus pot
Word Origin and History for kettle
n.

Old English cetil (Mercian), from Latin catillus "deep pan or dish for cooking," diminutive of catinus "bowl, dish, pot." A general Germanic borrowing (cf. Old Saxon ketel, Old Frisian zetel, Middle Dutch ketel, Old High German kezzil, German Kessel). Spelling with a -k- (c.1300) probably is from influence of Old Norse cognate ketill. The smaller sense of "tea-kettle" is attested by 1769.

kettle in Science
kettle
  (kět'l)   
A steep, bowl-shaped hollow in ground once covered by a glacier. Kettles are believed to form when a block of ice left by a glacier becomes covered by sediments and later melts, leaving a hollow. They are usually tens of meters deep and up to tens of kilometers in diameter and often contain surface water.
kettle in the Bible

a large pot for cooking. The same Hebrew word (dud, "boiling") is rendered also "pot" (Ps. 81:6), "caldron" (2 Chr. 35:13), "basket" (Jer. 24:2). It was used for preparing the peace-offerings (1 Sam. 2:13, 14).

Idioms and Phrases with kettle

kettle

In addition to the idiom beginning with kettle also see: pot calling the kettle black
Encyclopedia Article for kettle

in geology, depression in a glacial outwash drift made by the melting of a detached mass of glacial ice that became wholly or partly buried. The occurrence of these stranded ice masses is thought to be the result of gradual accumulation of outwash atop the irregular glacier terminus. Kettles may range in size from 5 m (15 feet) to 13 km (8 miles) in diameter and up to 45 m in depth. When filled with water they are called kettle lakes. Most kettles are circular in shape because melting blocks of ice tend to become rounded; distorted or branching depressions may result from extremely irregular ice masses

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