kitchen — English Dictionary

kitchen
Pronunciations (4)
  • /ˈkɪt͡ʃ(ɪ)n/
    Pronunciation notes
    • Received-Pronunciation
  • /ˈkɪt͡ʃ(ə)n/
    Pronunciation notes
    • General-American
  • /ˈkit͡ʃin/
    Pronunciation notes
    • Singapore
  • ˈkɪt͡ʃən

Noun

  1. A room or area for preparing food.

    Examples

    Dinner is in the kitchen.

    We cook in the kitchen.

    More examples (1)

    Everything a living animal could do to destroy and to desecrate bed and walls had been done. […] A canister of flour from the kitchen had been thrown at the looking-glass and lay like trampled snow over the remains of a decent blue suit with the lining ripped out which lay on top of the ruin of a plastic wardrobe.

    I always leave the stuff piled up, piled up in the sink / But you will always find him in the kitchen at parties

  2. Cuisine; style of cooking.

    Usage
    • broadly
    Examples

    I had been trained with the rigidity and discipline of the French kitchen, and now I was embracing American informality.

    My palate passionately lies in the savory kitchen with its salty fats and infernal flavors of chilies and spices.

    More examples (2)

    Kline wrote that, according to various recent surveys, the young Israeli-born generation generally preferred a Mediterranean diet and dishes from the “Oriental” kitchen.

    Named for the La Merced monastery, which was built in 1594 and on whose grounds the market is now located, it is just east of Mexico City's famed Zócalo plaza and is a must-visit for anyone wanting to experience the many delectable specialties of the Mexican kitchen.

  3. The nape of a person's hairline, often referring to its uncombed or "nappy" look.

  4. The percussion section of an orchestra.

    Examples
    More examples (1)

    For obvious reasons the percussion is normally arranged along the back of the platform, whether centrally or to one side, and sometimes also in two tiers, the heavy, noisier instruments behind, and the pitched, agile instruments such as vibraphone, marimba, etc. in front. An outstanding exception, however, exists in Roberto Gerhard's Epithalamion where the composer expressly desired that the all-important kitchen department be spread out in front of the strings and hence nearest the audience.

  5. A utensil for roasting meat.

    Usage
    • Dated
    Examples

    There are two modes of roasting: One is to use a tin kitchen before an open fire, and the other, and more common way, is to use a hot oven.

  6. A domesticated or uneducated form of a language.

    Usage
    • attributive
    Examples

    Sir Henry and Umbopo sat conversing in a mixture of broken English and kitchen Zulu, in low voices, but earnestly enough.

  7. A public gaming room in a casino.

    Usage
    • Slang
    Examples

    Having done what was required to gain admittance to the "kitchen," as the public rooms are termed, as well as to the more exclusive "Salle Privée" […]

    More examples (1)

    But on this June evening when Bond walked through the 'kitchen' into the salle privée, it was with a sensation of confidence and cheerful anticipation that he changed a million francs into plaques of fifty mille and took a seat […]

  8. Anything eaten as a relish with bread, potatoes, etc.; a condiment.

    Usage
    • Obsolete
    Examples
    More examples (1)

    “They,” said he, meaning the collops, “are such as I gave his Royal Highness in this very house; bating the lemon juice, for at that time we were glad to get the meat and never fashed for kitchen. Indeed, there were mair dragoons than lemons in my country in the year forty-six.”

    Snouk but and snouk ben, / I find the smell of an earthly man; / Be he living, or be he dead, / His heart shall be kitchen to my bread.

  9. The region of a billiard table between the head rail and the head string.

Verb

  1. To do kitchen work; to prepare food.

    Examples

    A dress scarcely suited to woodland kitchening was defended by an apron borrowed from the maid.

    More examples (1)

    "...May I ? " added the speaker, and forthwith took his answer from his master's smile ; "may I respectfully see what the old one has kitchened for you when I was not there ? "

    Instinctively they moved toward community canning, community baking, community kitchening on the grand scale to release energy for other war exigencies.

    More examples (1)

    From somewhere through the series of connecting rooms she smelled food, the stabbing odor of onions cooking, a distantly familiar spice, heard the clatter of women kitchening.

  2. To embellish a basic food; to season, add condiments, etc.

    Examples
    More examples (3)

    I have found it so, for whenever I saw the meal and potatoes running low, I spared them, and kitchened them all I could, and never was run out of them till the new came in.

    I "kitchened" my loaf, as they say in Scotland, with a pennyworth of butter, and occasionally with lettuce or a few radishes in their season ; and the beverage with which I regaled myself, after my meals, was a glass of water from the nearest pump.

    The green hill slopes are dotted over with sheep and lambs nibbling away at their morning meal, kitchened with blabs of sparkling dew, and higher up the mountain side we hear the " cootie moorcock's coothy craw."

    This was seasoned with salt and sometimes kitchened with butter.

  3. To embellish; to dress up.

    Usage
    • broadly
    Examples
    More examples (1)

    His Maker has not so endowed him as to lay him under the necessity of kitchening, so to speak, a slender share of talent, and, by rigid economy, make it go as far as possible.

    But as in his novels and other work there is a 'kitchening' of the material, a tentativeness.

Noun

  1. a room equipped for preparing meals

    Broader terms
Word forms
kitchenskitchinkitchenskitcheningkitchenedkitchened

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