Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

Scottish National Dictionary (1700–)

Hide Quotations Hide Etymology

Abbreviations Cite this entry

KITCHIE, n., v. Also kitch(e)y, ketchie (Bnff. 1920 Banffshire Jnl. (14 Dec.)). [′kɪtʃe, ne.Sc. -i]

I. n. 1. A kitchen (Bch. 1932 Dieth 77; Ags., Slg. 1942; n.Sc. 1960). Freq. attrib.Mry. 1708 E. D. Dunbar Social Life (1856) 212:
Fifteen timber trenchers to the kitchey.Sc. 1820 A. Sutherland St Kathleen III. 158:
Ye'll ken the road to the kitchy, uncle Kenny, though ye hinna seen it this monnie a lang day.Kcb. 1894 Crockett Lilac Sunbonnet xxxvi.:
I juist took up the bit lunchie that I saw on your kitchie table.Bnff. 1924 Swatches o' Hamespun 20:
Boys, gin ye haad roon te the kitchie, Tibbie his something for ye.ne.Sc. 1953 Mearns Leader (30 Oct.):
Corby's bark echoe't fae the kitchie ein.Abd. 1996 Sheena Blackhall Wittgenstein's Web 5:
"Forbye, a fairm needs a wummin's haun in the kitchie. Mither's bin deed an beeriet ten year noo." m.Sc. 2003 Herald (15 Feb) 6:
It wis easy the langest oor I mind on. My teeth wid be watering till I slivert, and when they lifted the lid o' the pot to see the water wisna biling in - oh! the guff (smell) that filled the kitchie.

Combs.: (1) kitchy-boy, a boy who works in the kitchen, a scullion; (2) kitchie-deem, -lass, -quine, a kitchen maid. See Deem, n., 3., Lass, Quean; (3) kitchie fee, = kitchen-fee s.v. Kitchen, n., 1. (1); (4) kitchie kyaaks, thick oatcakes, hard-fired on the outside and soft in the middle, gen. intended for the servants to eat (Ags.¹⁷ c.1930, cakes).(1) Sc. 1783 Lady Maisry in Child Ballads No. 65 A. vi.:
Her father's kitchy-boy heard that.(2) Abd. 1917 C. Murray Sough o' War 40:
Syne we hae the kitchie deem, that milks an' mak's the maet.Bch. 1930 Abd. Univ. Review (March) 102:
I wiz a gey fyle a kitchie lass mysel'.Bch. 1946 J. C. Milne Orra Loon 7:
At Eile I'll help the kitchie-lass te thump the dreepin' sids.Abd. 1981 Christina Forbes Middleton The Dance in the Village 11:
Oor Tibbie she wis Kitchie Lass
Up at Muckledreep
For a weekly wage ye'd sneer at noo
And, of course, her keep. Abd. 1999 Herald (13 Dec) 19:
The lads came into the farm kitchen for proper cooked meals. The chaumer was part of the household and would even get a clean now and again from one of the kitchie deems. ne.Sc. 2004 Press and Journal (6 Sep) 12:
It is a vanished Buchan that he writes about ... a land of nicky-tams, fee'd loons, kitchie deems, sharny boots, chaumers an bothy nichts.(3) Bch. 1832 W. Scott Poems 131:
A clort o' butter for your sket, An' kitchie-fee.(4) Abd. 1871 W. Alexander Johnny Gibb viii.:
One of the “quarters” of parlour cakes, which bore about the same relation to the “kitchie kyaaks”, that a well-browned biscuit does to a lump of dough.

2. = Kitchen, n., 2. (Per. 1902 E.D.D.; Fif.¹⁰ 1942; Sh., n.Sc. 1960). Also fig.Abd. 1865 G. Macdonald Alec Forbes xxviii.:
After eating a bit of oat cake, with a mug of blue milk for kitchie (Latin “obsonium”) she retired to her garret.Mry. 1914 H. J. Warwick Tales 44:
Mebbe a bit mair kitchie noos an' thans.Cai. 1916 J. Mowat Cai. Proverbs 5:
The sweet side o' yir toungue for kitchie.Abd. 1955 W. P. Milne Eppie Elrick iv.:
The goodwife . . . added . . . a judicious allowance of cream. “Gran kitchie that”, she remarked.Abd. 1960:
Kail at hame's nae kitchie, Butter an jam baith's twa kitchies.

‡3. A general domestic at a farm (Abd.¹⁵ 1915, Abd. 1960), an abbrev. form of kitchie-deem, -lass, -quine. See 1., Combs.

II. v. 1. = Kitchen, v., 1. (Abd. 1860 Banffshire Jnl. (27 March); Sh., n.Sc. 1960).Abd. 1871 W. Alexander Johnny Gibb xl.:
A tatie i' the tae han', an' something to kitchie't wi' i' the tither.Abd. 1920 C. Murray Country Places 32:
Ye gied him a kiss to kitchie his piece the streen.

2. Of farm-servants: to take one's meals in the farm-kitchen, as opposed to living in the bothy or cottar-house, to live in (ne.Sc. 1960). Vbl.n. kitchying.Abd. 1923 Banffshire Jnl. (13 Feb.):
The three methods — “cottaring”, “bothying”, and “kitchying” — of catering for the welfare of the soil's sturdy toilers and their families.

†3. To use sparingly, as kitchie (Cai.⁴ 1920). Cf. Kitchen, v., 2.