Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 5th Edition.
- noun A fancy food; a delicacy.
- noun A trinket; a gewgaw.
from The Century Dictionary.
- noun Something fantastical or uncommon; something trifling, not otherwise named or described, or that has no particular name.
- noun A light, unsubstantial dish, or kind of food.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English.
- noun See
kickshaws , the correct singular.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.
- noun A
dainty ordelicacy - noun A
trinket orgewgaw
from WordNet 3.0 Copyright 2006 by Princeton University. All rights reserved.
- noun something considered choice to eat
Etymologies
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
Support
Help support Wordnik (and make this page ad-free) by adopting the word kickshaw.
Examples
-
Pitt would do anything to keep what he called the “French kickshaw” away.
THE DIAMOND JULIE BAUMGOLD 2005
-
Pitt would do anything to keep what he called the “French kickshaw” away.
THE DIAMOND JULIE BAUMGOLD 2005
-
Pitt would do anything to keep what he called the “French kickshaw” away.
THE DIAMOND JULIE BAUMGOLD 2005
-
No kickshaw ditties, favourites with national enemies, but ... genuine George the Third home brewed, exhorting him (as 'my brave boys') to reduce to a smashed condition all other islands but this island, and all continents, peninsulas, isthmuses, promontories, and other geographical forms of land soever, besides sweeping the sea in all directions.
Charles Dickens and Music James T. Lightwood
-
Andover, knowing her, imagined that she had been refused some kickshaw, and thought no more about it.
-
No kickshaw ditties, favourites with national enemies, but ... genuine George the Third home brewed, exhorting him (as 'my brave boys') to reduce to a smashed condition all other islands but this island, and all continents, peninsulas, isthmuses, promontories, and other geographical forms of land soever, besides sweeping the sea in all directions.
Charles Dickens and Music Lightwood, James T 1912
-
Then be generous -- show him the flash of a looking-glass, the flutter of a bright handkerchief, a tin whistle, or any other little kickshaw that the remembrance of a boy's pocket may suggest -- and the chances are that he will come back again, finding curiosity so richly rewarded.
Secret of the Woods William Joseph Long 1909
-
I remember checking a maid because she sang some bairnly kickshaw while my mind was thus engaged; and my asperity brought about my ears the enmity of all the petticoats about the house; of which I reeked very little, but it amused Mr. Henry, who rallied me much upon our joint unpopularity.
Persecutions Endured 1889
-
O the little tiny kickshaw that Mither sent tae me ...
-
The little tiny kickshaw that Mither sent tae me ....
whichbe commented on the word kickshaw
A fancy dish in cookery; chiefly with contemptuous force: a fancified French 'something', not one of those good old English dishes. (From WordCraft)
May 20, 2008
yarb commented on the word kickshaw
Finally a rhyme for rickshaw.
May 21, 2008
gangerh commented on the word kickshaw
Didn't know you were searching, yarb. I could have introduced you to my friend Mick Shaw!
May 21, 2008
reesetee commented on the word kickshaw
Now you can finally finish that poem you've been working on.
May 21, 2008
yarb commented on the word kickshaw
There was a young man named Mick Shaw
who desired a succulent kickshaw.
He ran to the shop
with a skip and a hop
but was slain by a rampaging rickshaw.
May 21, 2008
reesetee commented on the word kickshaw
And there it is. A thing of beauty.
May 21, 2008
pterodactyl commented on the word kickshaw
Excellent, yarb!
May 21, 2008
dontcry commented on the word kickshaw
pshaw also rhymes...
May 22, 2008
yarb commented on the word kickshaw
Thank you, I'm here all night.
dontcry, well yes, but I'm thinking of true or "feminine" rhymes here - since "rickshaw" has stress on the first syllable, rhymes ought to rhyme on both syllables, not just the second. Otherwise I could have pshaw, as you say, but also spore, war, and featherstonehaugh.
May 22, 2008
hernesheir commented on the word kickshaw
"Here in Hopperville, it’s all about somewhere else really, stretching back to bards and shamans, and closing with a sequence that features us waving there behind the county bake-off. So, who’ll vouch for this among the kickshaws? the candidates wonder, two-stepping out onto the Indian burial mound. It’s where I mainly grew up, they add, tracing out the contours of local space with a bit of it on their fronts. So we’ve been looking, good hygiene permitting, for some time now."
John Gallaher, A Guidebook to Patch-of-Ground People
October 23, 2009
chained_bear commented on the word kickshaw
"Cookbooks frequently recommended sardines, a canned delicacy usually imported from Europe, as a 'kickshaw' (relish) to be served during the soup course at dinner. Sardines were considered elegant enough to merit their own special serving utensils."
—Susan Williams, Savory Suppers and Fashionable Feasts: Dining in Victorian America (New York: Pantheon Books, 1985), 111
April 14, 2010
chained_bear commented on the word kickshaw
"For a three-course meal, according to this scheme, the first course would consist of soup, meat from the soup, and 'kickshaws' (another word for appetizers, derived from the French quelque chose, and used to denote a delicacy, fancy dish, or relish, possibly oysters, anchovies, shrimp, sardines, celery, olives, or pickles)."
—Susan Williams, Savory Suppers and Fashionable Feasts: Dining in Victorian America (New York: Pantheon Books, 1985), 175
May 3, 2010
knitandpurl commented on the word kickshaw
"Eleanor had grown up with little idea of what went on in a kitchen, but she was a quick study. By the time she became, as the Washington Post put it, "the first Housewife of the Nation," she had developed a straightforward message about her culinary goals. "I am doing away with all the kickshaws—no hothouse grapes—nothing out of season," she told a reporter who inquired about the "economy menus," and added that she intended to provide "good and well-cooked food." Few guests or family members felt that she succeeded."
"The First Kitchen" by Laura Shapiro, in the New Yorker, November 22, 2010, p 76
November 28, 2010
chained_bear commented on the word kickshaw
Usage/historical note in comment on quelquechose. Also, this:
January 11, 2017