Definify.com

Webster 1913 Edition


Kern

Kern

(kẽrn)
,
Noun.
[Ir.
ceatharnach
.Cf.
Cateran
. ]
1.
A light-armed foot soldier of the ancient militia of Ireland and Scotland; – distinguished from
gallowglass
, and often used as a term of contempt.
Macaulay.
Now for our Irish wars;
We must supplant those rough, rug-headed
kerns
.
Shakespeare
2.
Any kind of boor or low-lived person.
[Obs.]
Blount.
3.
(O. Eng. Law)
An idler; a vagabond.
Wharton.

Kern

,
Noun.
(Type Founding)
A part of the face of a type which projects beyond the body, or shank, such as in certain italic letters.

Kern

,
Verb.
T.
[
imp. & p. p.
Kerned
;
p. pr. & vb. n.
Kerning
. ]
(Type Founding)
To form with a kern. See 2d
Kern
.

Kern

,
Noun.
[See
Churn
. ]
A churn.
[Prov. Eng.]

Kern

,
Noun.
[AS.
cweorn
,
cwyrn
. See
Quern
. ]
A hand mill. See
Quern
.
Johnson.

Kern

,
Verb.
I.
[Cf. G.
kern
kernel, grain; akin to E.
corn
. See
Corn
,
Kernel
. ]
1.
To harden, as corn in ripening.
[Obs.]
Carew.
2.
To take the form of kernels; to granulate.
[Obs.]
It is observed that rain makes the salt
kern
.
Dampier.

Webster 1828 Edition


Kern

KERN

,
Noun.
An Irish footman or foot-soldier.
1.
In English laws, an idle person or vagabond.

KERN

,
Noun.
A hand-mill consisting of two stones, one of which is turned by the hand; usually written quern, which see.
1.
A churn.

KERN

, v.i.
1.
To harden, as corn in ripening.
2.
To take the form of corns; to granulate.

Definition 2024


Kern

Kern

See also: kern

German

Noun

Kern m (genitive Kerns or Kernes, plural Kerne)

  1. (also mathematics) kernel
  2. grain
  3. core
  4. nucleus
  5. pit, pip, stone (of a fruit)

Declension

Derived terms

kern

kern

See also: Kern

English

Noun

kern (countable and uncountable, plural kerns)

  1. (obsolete or dialect) A corn; grain; kernel.
  2. (obsolete or dialect) The last handful or sheaf reaped at the harvest.
  3. (obsolete or dialect) The harvest home.
Derived terms
Related terms

Etymology 2

From French carne (corner; projecting angle; quill of a pen), from Latin cardinem (hinge)[1] or from Etymology 1. The verb is a back-formation from kerned, which is from the noun.

Alternative forms

Noun

kern (plural kerns)

  1. (hot metal printing, typography) any part of a letter which extends into the space used by another letter.
    • 1856, Independent Order of Odd Fellows, Odd Fellows' Literary Casket, Volumes 6-7, page 360,
      A few types have a portion of the face letter projecting over the body, as in the letter f ; this projection is called the kern, and in combination with other letters the projecting part generally extends over the next letter, as in fe. In those combinations, wherein the kern would come in contact with another letter, compound types are cast, as in the case of ff, fi, fl, ffi, ffl.

Verb

kern (third-person singular simple present kerns, present participle kerning, simple past and past participle kerned)

  1. (typography, chiefly proportional font printing) To adjust the horizontal space between selected pairs of letters (characters or glyphs); to perform such adjustments to a portion of text, according to preset rules.
    • 2001, Constance J. Sidles, Graphic Designer's Digital Printing and PrePress Handbook, page 51,
      If you need to kern anything beyond the most commonly used pairs, you can use applications software such as Adobe PageMaker to customize pairs.
    • 2001, Bill Camarda, Special Edition Using Microsoft Word 2002, page 122,
      Especially consider kerning if you are printing on a relatively high-resolution printer, such as a 600-dpi (dots per inch) laser printer.
    • 2006, Tova Rabinowitz, Exploring Typography, page 320,
      Remember, the goal of kerning is to make letter pairs look natural, not necessarily to minimize letterspaces.
    • 2008, Terry Rydberg, Exploring Adobe InDesign CS4, page 98,
      You should kern letter pairs when spacing between characters is too wide or too narrow.

Derived terms

  • kern pair

Etymology 3

From Middle Irish ceithern.

Alternative forms

Noun

kern (plural kerns)

  1. (archaic or historical) A light-armed foot soldier of the ancient militia of Ireland and Scotland; in archaic contexts often used as a term of contempt.
  2. (obsolete) A boor; a low person.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Blount to this entry?)
  3. (obsolete, Britain, law) An idler; a vagabond.
    (Can we find and add a quotation of Wharton to this entry?)

Etymology 4

Noun

kern (plural kerns)

  1. Alternative form of quern

Etymology 5

Noun

kern (plural kerns)

  1. A churn.

References

  1. "kern" at Etymonline

Dutch

Pronunciation

Etymology

From Middle Dutch kerne, from Old Dutch *kerno, from Proto-Germanic *kernô.

Noun

kern f (plural kernen, diminutive kerntje n)

  1. nucleus, core
  2. (physics) nucleus (of an atom)
  3. (physics, in compounds) nuclear
  4. (geology) core (of the Earth)
  5. (mathematics) kernel (of a function)
  6. settlement, built-up area

Derived terms


Manx

Etymology

From Middle Irish ceithern (band or troop of soldiers or fighting men).

Noun

kern m (genitive singular kern, plural kernyn)

  1. (military) soldier, infantryman, yeoman
  2. (chess) pawn

Synonyms

Mutation

Manx mutation
Radical Lenition Eclipsis
kern chern gern
Note: Some of these forms may be hypothetical. Not every
possible mutated form of every word actually occurs.

References

  • ceithern” in Dictionary of the Irish Language, Royal Irish Academy, 1913–76.