> Do any of you *experts* know the etymology of
>
> kitty - as in pool of money ??
>
> I thought it came from *kit* as in *collection of parts* but could do with
> confirmation.
>
> Bestw
> Roger.
OED2[3] -- KITTY n4:
north. dial. and slang.
[Origin uncertain: cf. kidcote.]
1. A prison, jail, or lock-up; a house of correction.
1825 Brockett, Kitty, the house of correction. Newcastle. 1832 W. Stephenson
Gateshead Local Poems 28 We had a nice tollbooth,+And in its stead we've
got+A vile pernicious kitty. 1864 Daily Tel. 22 Sept., The Provost [of
Jedburgh] ordered another man to be taken into custody; said the crowd, ‘If
ane gangs t' the kitty, we'll a' gang’. 1888 Monthly Chron. N.C. June 285/1
Wey, man, that's a fine kitty.
2. ‘A pool into which each player in a card-game puts a certain amount of
his winnings, to be used in meeting expenses, as for room-rent,
refreshments, etc.’ (Cent. Dict.) Also, the money (freq. placed in the
centre of the table) taken by the winner of a game or round (the usual
sense). So transf., earnings, liquid capital, a reserve fund; a sum of money
made up of contributions by people involved in a common activity.
A prison in Durham, in card-parties the pool.
There doesn't seem to be a clear etymology for the word.
Some elements of the term verge on the mildly obscene.
Etymologically, it doesn't seem to link in at all to "*kit* as in
*collection of parts*".
Give you more on this backchannel, if you want, my Roger.
Robin
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