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A man who works a keel.
places Hull York Drypool
dates 1464-1465 1582 1598 1628

To remain, continue to be.
dates 1562

An officer with responsibility for a forest or woods, a term in use long before gamekeeper.
dates 1258 1503 1539 1565 1599-1600 1609 1663

keg

Possibly for ‘cog’ in the sense of a small boat. The only example noted is in a sequence of vessels, mostly keels.
places York
dates 1475

spellings kilp (1)
A collective name for large seaweeds which have had a variety of uses.
places Bridlington
dates 1601

Nails used at Hull when the south ferry boat was repaired.
places Hull
dates 1464-1465

A coarse cloth used for outer garments, especially for men’s jackets.
places Wakefield Pannal
dates 1541 1558 1575

Coarse or bristly hair, found in the fleeces of sheep.
places Elmswell
dates 1642

Combed, less frequent than unkempt.
places Leconfield
dates 1319

The name of a fabric made in Kendal or ‘Kentdale’, which was green in colour and is mentioned in Acts of Parliament as early as 1389.
dates 1438 1529 1543

The sale of the fabric we know as Kendal was associated with merchants known as kendalmen.
dates 1379 1394-1395 1471 1492 1511 1517 1523 1546 1550 1558

Iron produced in Kent.
places Brandsby
dates 1615

spellings courechef curtcher curtchif kertshowe kirchief kocher
A cloth used to cover the head, formerly a woman’s head-dress.
dates 1317 1379 1454 1535 1540 1545 1550 1561 1585 1642

A kind of coarse narrow cloth, woven from long wool and usually ribbed. It is thought to derive from Kersey in Suffolk but that has not yet been proved (OED).
dates 1348 1458 1472 1535

Rennet, used for curdling milk in cheese-making. It is the northern form of ‘cheeselip’.
places Whitby
dates 1395


ket

Carrion or raw flesh, a word first noted in c.1220 but much later in Yorkshire, in glossaries of 1788 and 1828 (OED).
places Upperthong York
dates 1175 1688

A later spelling of catch, a small type of boat.
places Whitby
dates 1678

A word which occurred in the records of Esholt ironworks.
places Esholt
dates 1567-1568

A cauldron or other vessel made of some kind of metal, used for boiling water or other liquids over a fire. Such vessels could be of considerable size.
dates 1453 1476 1505 1571 1600 1700

A hammer used for rough-hewing or breaking stone. A regional word.
places York
dates 1360 1399

A bit for a horse’s mouth.
dates 1748

An occasional spelling in the sixteenth century of ‘cover’.
places Nunkeeling
dates 1540

key

A wharf where ships can load and unload. This spelling was replaced by quay from c .1700 (OED).
dates 1400 1558

An official in Bridlington responsible for the key or quay.
places Bridlington
dates 1638

kid

A faggot or bundle of twigs, gorse etc, bound with a withy and suitable for kindling.
dates 1395 1423 1464-1465 1472 1543 1548 1595 1678

A labourer employed to carry kids.
places York
dates 1476-1487 1477

spellings kidstack
A stack of kids, a word used by Richard Cholmeley in his description of the fuel required to burn a kiln of 60,000 bricks.
places Brandsby Leeds
dates 1579 1612

A regional word for a lock-up or prison.
dates 1423 1430 1450 1482 1487 1535 1536 1589 1639 1728-1729

The word used for the workman who cut and sold bundles of faggots.
dates 1410 1457-1458 1731 1767

A kind of carpet originally made in Kidderminster in which the pattern is formed by the intersection of two cloths of different colours.
dates 1674 1764

A weir or barrier in a river, with an opening which is fitted with nets to catch fish. It may have also referred to the nets so used.
places Selby York
dates 1398-1399 1462-1463 1476

A shed where kids, that is faggots, and other fuel might be stored.
places York
dates 1501

Wood suitable for making faggots.
places Scagglethorpe
dates 1549

Wood suitable for household fires.
places Woodsome
dates 1570

A cask of a definite capacity, that is half a barrel, used for liquids, fish, and other commodities.
places Bridlington
dates 1545

An obsolete spelling of kiln.
dates 1498-1499 1612 1614 1647 1704

A yard in which a kiln was located.
dates 1433-1434 1610

A hair cloth on which grain was laid in a drying kiln. It had other uses and was often linked with ‘steep fat’ in inventories, which might suggest a role in brewing.
dates 1487 1511 1528 1555 1625 1701

A building in which or by which a kiln was located.
dates 1417 1502 1521 1558 1612

The site of a kiln, a term with a very long history.
dates 1250-1275 1294 1345

Could be either a hook to hang a pot in the chimney, or the detachable handles of a pot or pan.
dates 1400 1425-1426 1444 1452 1479 1490 1559 1574 1634

spellings kimnel cimlin gimling gymnel gymlett chimblinge
A tub with a variety of domestic uses, among which were brewing, kneading, salting.
dates 1341 1419 1485 1545 1547 1571 1574 1589 1599 1602 1731

A rare word: it is found several times in a Whitby account roll where it appears to refer to a tub for containing herrings.
places Whitby
dates 1394-1395

A right of grazing in a stinted pasture.

This was the royalty payable on mineral rights held by the king, often included in the terms of a lease.
dates 1538 1630

Possibly for ‘cingle’, a girdle of some kind.
places Harpham York
dates 1341 1394

The hide of a young or small beast, or a bundle of such hides (OED). In particular it was used of lamb skins, as in the will of a York furrier.
places York
dates 1521

A verb meaning to snatch or take hold of.
dates 1202-1208

This was formerly a word for the male salmon during the spawning season and it is on record in Old English.
places Calder Valley
dates 1430

This was the spawning season for salmon, a period during which fishing was illegal.
places Egton Aldborough
dates 1624 1633

Possibly the ‘strings’ which secured bundles of lamb skins on pack-horses, or a lambskin tie.
places Bolton Priory
dates 1377-1378

Photo by Kreuzschnabel CC BY-SA 3.0