<B>kingmaking, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> the activities of a kingmaker. <BR> <I>Ex. My mention of Lausche is no exercise in kingmaking (Newsweek).</I> <DD><I>adj. </I> like that of a kingmaker. <BR> <I>Ex. Chicago's kingmaking Democratic Mayor ... pressured him off the Democratic ticket (Wall Street Journal).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="kingofarms">
<B>king-of-arms</B> or <B>King-of-Arms, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> the most important heraldic officer of a country; any of the three chief heralds of the Heralds' College. </DL>
<A NAME="kingofbeasts">
<B>king of beasts,</B> <B>=lion.</B></DL>
<A NAME="kingpenguin">
<B>king penguin,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a large penguin similar in appearance to the emperor penguin but slightly smaller. It lives in Patagonia and certain islands of the Antarctic. </DL>
<A NAME="kingpin">
<B>kingpin, </B>noun, adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>the pin in front or in the center in bowling games. <DD><B> 2. </B>(Informal, Figurative.) the most important person or thing. <BR> <I>Ex. Conrad Hilton, U.S. hotel kingpin, reportedly is shopping around for island property (Wall Street Journal).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>the pin connecting a stub axle to the fixed front axle of an automobile. <DD><B> 4. </B><B>=kingbolt.</B> <DD><I>adj. </I> (Informal.) important; outstanding; primary. <BR> <I>Ex. Okinawa, kingpin bastion of Pacific defenses (Newsweek).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="kingpost">
<B>king post,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a vertical post between the apex of a triangular roof truss and a tie beam. </DL>
<A NAME="kings">
<B>Kings, </B>noun pl.<DL COMPACT><DD> (sing. in use). <DD><B> 1. </B>either of two books in the Protestant Old Testament, I Kings or II Kings, containing the history of the reigns of the Hebrew kings in Israel and Judah after David. <DD><B> 2. </B>any one of four books in the Douay Bible that include I and II Samuel and I and II Kings. </DL>
<A NAME="kingsbench">
<B>King's Bench,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (British.) a former court of record and the highest common-law court in England. (Abbr:) K.B. Also, <B>Queen's Bench.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="kingsbirthday">
<B>King's Birthday,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a holiday observed in the Commonwealth on the actual or arbitrarily set birthday of the ruler. Also, <B>Queen's Birthday.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="kingscolor">
<B>King's Color</B> or <B>Colour,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> the Union Jack as an emblem on, or carried with the colors of, a British regiment. Also, <B>Queen's Color</B> or <B>Colour.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="kingscounsel">
<B>king's counsel,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (British.) a barrister or the body of barristers appointed counsel to the Crown. (Abbr:) K.C. Also, <B>queen's counsel.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="kingsenglish">
<B>king's English,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> accepted English, especially correct British usage in speech and writing. <BR> <I>Ex. In their "History of English Literature," Professors Emile Legouis and Louis Cazamian ... defined king's English as that English which was spoken at the Universities of Oxford and Cambridge and at the court (Listener).</I> <DL COMPACT><DD> Also, <B>queen's English.</B> </DL>
</DL>
<A NAME="kingsevil">
<B>king's evil,</B> <B>=scrofula </B>(supposed to be cured by the touch of a king).</DL>
<A NAME="kingsgambit">
<B>king's gambit,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a series of opening moves in chess starting with the advance of the pawn in front of the king, in which the opening player offers his king's bishop's pawn in return for opportunity for swift attack. </DL>
<A NAME="kingship">
<B>kingship, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the position, rank, or dignity of a king. <DD><B> 2. </B>the rule of a king; government by a king. <DD><B> 3. </B>kingly nature or quality. <DD><B> 4. </B>a title used in referring to a king (with <I>his</I>). </DL>
<A NAME="kingside">
<B>kingside, </B>noun, adjective, adverb.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Chess.) <DD><I>noun </I> the side of the board nearest to the king's starting position. <DD><I>adj. </I> occurring or situated on the kingside. <DD><I>adv. </I> on the kingside. </DL>
<A NAME="kingsize">
<B>king-size, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>(Informal.) large or long for its kind. <BR> <I>Ex. a king-size cigarette.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>wider than queen-size; extra wide. A king-size bed is 78 inches wide and 80 inches long. </DL>
<A NAME="kingsized">
<B>king-sized, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> (Informal.) <DD><B> 1. </B>larger than normal. <BR> <I>Ex. Professor Petro sees compulsory unionism as a king-sized inconsistency in our labor policy (Wall Street Journal).</I> <DD><B> 2. </B><B>=king-size.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="kingsnake">
<B>king snake,</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a large, harmless colubrine snake that lives in the southern United States. It eats mice and rats and other snakes. It does not hesitate to attack and eat rattlesnakes. <DD><B> 2. </B>any one of various related North American snakes. King snakes are constrictors of the same genus as the milk snakes. </DL>
<A NAME="kingsproctor">
<B>king's proctor,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> an officer representing the Crown who has the right to intervene in certain divorce and nullity cases. Also, <B>queen's proctor.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="kingsransom">
<B>king's ransom,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a very large amount of money. </DL>
<A NAME="kingsshilling">
<B>king's shilling,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (in the British Army) a shilling formerly paid a recruit to make his enlistment binding. Also, <B>queen's shilling.</B> <BR><I>expr. <B>take the king's shilling,</B> </I>to enlist. <BR> <I>Ex. When war was declared, he took the king's shilling.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="kingsspeech">
<B>King's speech,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a speech read by the king at the opening of the British Parliament, prepared by the ministers of the government to explain domestic and foreign policy. Also, <B>Queen's speech.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="kingsyellow">
<B>king's yellow,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> orpiment or yellow arsenic used as a pigment. </DL>
<B>kingwood, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a Brazilian tree of the pea family whose wood is used in cabinetwork. <DD><B> 2. </B>the wood itself, streaked with violet tints; violet wood. </DL>
<A NAME="kinin">
<B>kinin, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> any peptide of a group which in plants stimulates cell division and in animals causes dilation of blood vessels and contraction of smooth muscles. </DL>
<A NAME="kink">
<B>kink, </B>noun, verb.<DL COMPACT><DD><I>noun </I> <B>1. </B>a short twist or curl in a rope, thread, hair, or wire. <BR> <I>Ex. a kink in a cable.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>a pain or stiffness in the muscles, especially of the neck, back, or leg; crick. <BR> <I>Ex. Jackie Robinson didn't start the game because of the kink in his neck (New York Times).</I> <DD><B> 3. </B>(Informal, Figurative.) a mental twist; queer idea; odd notion; eccentricity; whim. <BR> <I>Ex. when a woman gets a kink in her head agin a man (Harriet Beecher Stowe).</I> (SYN) crotchet. <DD><B> 4. </B>a hindrance; difficulty; obstruction. <BR> <I>Ex. Some kinks are knotting up auto distribution (Wall Street Journal).</I> <DD><I>v.i. </I> to form a kink or kinks; twist or curl stiffly. <BR> <I>Ex. The rope kinked as he rolled it up.</I> <DD><I>v.t. </I> to make kinks in. <BR> <I>Ex. Don't kink the clothesline.</I> </DL>
<A NAME="kinkajou">
<B>kinkajou, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a yellowish-brown mammal of Central America and northern South America, related to and resembling a raccoon but having a long, prehensile tail. It lives in trees and hunts at night. </DL>
<B>kinkle, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a little or slight kink or twist. </DL>
<A NAME="kinkled">
<B>kinkled, </B>adjective.<DL COMPACT><DD> having kinkles; finely kinked or curled, as hair. </DL>
<A NAME="kinky">
<B>kinky, </B>adjective, <B>kinkier,</B> <B>kinkiest.</B><DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>full of kinks; twisted; curly. <BR> <I>Ex. She has kinky brown hair.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>(Especially British Informal.) eccentric; unconventional; whimsical. <BR> <I>Ex. kinky clothes, kinky habits. He gets involved in endless kinky-kooky adventures, all set against a mildly distracting mod-baroque-art-nouveau setting (Maclean's).</I> </DL>
<A NAME="kinkyboot">
<B>kinky boot,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> (British.) a knee-length or thigh-length boot, especially of black leather or plastic, worn by women. </DL>
<A NAME="kinnikinick">
<B>kinnikinick</B> or <B>kinnikinic, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a smoking mixture used by the North American Indians, made from dried leaves and bark of the bearberry. <DD><B> 2. </B><B>=bearberry.</B> Also, <B>killikinick,</B> <B>killickinic.</B> </DL>
<A NAME="kino">
<B>kino</B> (1), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>a dark, reddish-brown, dried juice used in medicine and tanning as an astringent, and also in dyeing. <DD><B> 2. </B>the tree of the pea family, growing in North Africa, India, and Ceylon (Sri Lanka), from whose trunk this juice is extracted. </DL>
<A NAME="kino">
<B>kino</B> (2), noun.<DL COMPACT><DD> a motion-picture theater. </DL>
<A NAME="kinsfolk">
<B>kinsfolk, </B>noun pl.<DL COMPACT><DD> a person's family or relatives; kin. <BR> <I>Ex. And mark A country for him, kinsfolk, and a home (Matthew Arnold).</I> <DL COMPACT><DD> Also, <B>kinfolk.</B> </DL>
</DL>
<A NAME="kinsfolks">
<B>kinsfolks, </B>noun pl. <B>=kinsfolk.</B></DL>
<A NAME="kinship">
<B>kinship, </B>noun.<DL COMPACT><DD><B> 1. </B>the state of being kin; family relationship. <BR> <I>Ex. His kinship with the owner of the factory helped him to get a job.</I> <DD><B> 2. </B>relationship. <DD><B> 3. </B>(Figurative.) resemblance. </DL>
<A NAME="kinshipfamily">
<B>kinship family,</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a family unit consisting of several closely related families (as father, mother, sons, their wives, and their children) all living together. </DL>
<A NAME="kinsman">
<B>kinsman, </B>noun, pl. <B>-men.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a male relative. Brothers and uncles are kinsmen. </DL>
<A NAME="kinsmanship">
<B>kinsmanship, </B>noun. <B>=kinship.</B></DL>
<A NAME="kinswoman">
<B>kinswoman, </B>noun, pl. <B>-women.</B><DL COMPACT><DD> a woman or girl relative. </DL>
