Definify.com
Webster 1913 Edition
Kidney
Kid′ney
(kĭd′ny̆)
, Noun.
pl.
Kidneys
(kĭd′nĭz)
. [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.
(Anat.)
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.
There are in later times other decrees, made by popes of another
kidney
. Barrow.
Millions in the world of this man’s
kidney
. L'Estrange.
Your poets, spendthrifts, and other fools of that
kidney
, pretend, forsooth, to crack their jokes on prudence. 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.”
Shak.
3.
A waiter.
[Old Cant]
Tatler.
Webster 1828 Edition
Kidney
KID'NEY
,Noun.
1.
The kidneys are two oblong flattened bodies, extending from the eleventh and twelfth ribs to the fourth lumbar vertebra, behind the intestines. Their use is to separate the urine from the blood.2.
Sort; kind. [A ludicrous use of the word.]3.
A cant term for a waiting servant.