Dictionary

kickshaw en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• /ˈkɪk.ʃɔː/

Etymology

From Middle French quelque chose (“something”).

Meanings

1. A dainty or delicacy.
   • The lunch […] consisted […] of […] lobster mayonnaise, cold game sausages, an immense veal and ham pie farced with eggs, truffles, and numberless delicious flavours; besides kickshaws, creams and sweetmeats. 1923, Walter de la Mare, Seaton's Aunt:
   • Allow me now to recommend this dish— / A simple kickshaw by your Persian cook, / Such as is served at the great King’s second table. 1820, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Oedipus Tyrannus; Or, Swellfoot The Tyrant: A Tragedy in Two Acts, page 39:
   • Some Pigeons Davy, a couple of ſhort-legg'd Hennes: a / ioynt of Mutton, and any pretty little tine Kickſhawes, / tell William Cooke. c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, […]. Epilogue.”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act V, scene i], page 96, column 1:
   • The "Penny Magazine" for 1842 has a good and suggestive paper on "Feasts and Entertainments," with extracts from some of the early dramatists and a woodcut of "a new French cook, to devise fine kickshaws and toys." 1886, William Carew Hazlitt, “The Early Englishman and His Food”, in Old Cookery Books and Ancient Cuisine, published 1902:
2. A trinket or gewgaw.
   • Art thou good at theſe kicke-chawſes Knight? c. 1601–1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “Twelfe Night, or What You Will”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act I, scene iii], page 257, column 1:

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