kidney

Webster's Dictionary (1913)

Origin: OE. kidnei, kidnere, from Icel. koiðr belly, womb (akin to Goth. gipus, AS. cwiþ womb) + OE. nere kidney; akin to D. nier, G. niere, OHG. nioro, Icel. nȳra, Dan. nyre, Sw. njure, and probably to Gr. νεφρός Cf. Kite belly.

1. Anatomy A glandular organ which excretes urea and other waste products from the animal body; a urinary gland.

☞ In man and in other mammals there are two kidneys, one on each side of vertebral column in the back part of the abdomen, each kidney being connected with the bladder by a long tube, the ureter, through which the urine is constantly excreted into the bladder to be periodically discharged.

2. Habit; disposition; sort; kind; as, a man of a different kidney. William Shakespeare

There are in later times other decrees, made by popes of another kidney.— Isaac Barrow

Millions in the world of this man's kidney.— Sir Roger L'Estrange

Your poets, spendthrifts, and other fools of that kidney, pretend, forsooth, to crack their jokes on prudence.— Robert Burns

☞ This use of the word perhaps arose from the fact that the kidneys and the fat about them are an easy test of the condition of an animal as to fatness. “Think of that, — a man of my kidney; —... as subject to heat as butter.” William Shakespeare

3. A waiter. Old Cant The Tatler

Floating kidney. See Wandering kidney, under Wandering. — Kidney bean Botany, a sort of bean; — so named from its shape. It is of the genus Phaseolus (Phaseolus vulgaris). See under Bean. — Kidney ore Mineralogy, a variety of hematite or iron sesquioxide, occurring in compact kidney-shaped masses. — Kidney stone. Mineralogy See Nephrite, and Jade. — Kidney vetch Botany, a leguminous herb of Europe and Asia (Anthyllis vulneraria), with cloverlike heads of red or yellow flowers, once used as a remedy for renal disorders, and also to stop the flow of blood from wounds; lady's-fingers.

Webster’s Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913), from GCIDE 0.54 · with additions: +PJC