Kite

/kʰaɪt/ name, noun, verb, slang

name, noun, verb, slang ·Common ·Middle school level

Meaning at a glance

  • Primary sense: A bird of prey of the family Accipitridae.
  • Grammar: kite is listed as name, noun, verb, slang.
  • Nearest alternatives: aerofoil toy, aeroplane, airborne toy, aircraft.
  • Useful contrasts: clear funds, ground, land.
  • Usage evidence: Tom attached the string to the kite.

How to use "kite"

  1. Start with the primary definition, then check the part of speech before placing the word in a sentence.
  2. Compare nearby synonyms to make sure "kite" carries the exact meaning, tone, and strength you need.
  3. Use the example sentence as a context check. If your sentence uses the word differently, confirm that the grammar still fits.

Meaning check

  • Does the word fit the sentence's grammar?
  • Does it match the intended tone rather than only the dictionary definition?
  • Would a simpler synonym be clearer for the reader?
  • Is there enough surrounding context to prevent ambiguity?

Source and review context

This entry combines structured lexical data with WordToolSet review checks. Definitions, examples, synonyms, and usage notes may come from different source tables, so the page is designed to show evidence from more than one angle before you rely on "kite" in a final draft.

If a word has several senses, prefer the sense that matches your sentence's grammar and surrounding context. A correct definition can still be the wrong choice when the sentence needs a different register, emphasis, or level of specificity.

Before you rely on this definition

Read the first definition as a starting point, then check the example, synonyms, and part of speech before treating "kite" as the right word for your sentence.

If your draft is formal, technical, persuasive, or sensitive, compare "kite" with a nearby alternative so the final choice matches both meaning and reader expectation.

Compare nearby meanings

  • Use synonyms when you need a softer, stronger, simpler, or more specific word.
  • Use antonyms to check the boundary of the meaning and avoid accidental contrast.
  • Use the example sentence to confirm the word behaves naturally in context.
  • Keep the original wording when a replacement adds complexity without improving precision.

Definition decision workflow

1. Identify the role

Check whether "kite" is acting as name, noun, verb, slang in your sentence. A definition is only useful when the grammar matches the way the word is being used.

2. Test the nearest option

Compare it with "aerofoil toy" and other nearby choices to see whether the sentence needs a softer, stronger, or more familiar word.

3. Confirm with context

Use the example sentence below as an evidence check, then read your own sentence out loud to catch tone or rhythm problems.

Review note: Definition pages are checked for source coverage, sentence evidence, synonym support, and editorial insight before they are treated as approval-ready pages. If the evidence is too thin, the page remains available to users but is kept out of the approval-facing indexed inventory.

Final meaning check

Before publishing a sentence with "kite", ask whether the word helps the reader understand the idea faster. A precise word should reduce confusion, not simply make the sentence look more polished.

When the definition, synonym evidence, and example context point in the same direction, the word is usually a safer choice. When they conflict, revise the sentence or choose a clearer alternative.

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A bird of prey of the family Accipitridae.

    "A pair of kites built a nest on the cliff."

  2. 2
    The stomach; the belly. Northern-England, Scotland, dialectal

    ""You know my father's name?" "It would be strange if I didnae," he returned, "for he was my born brother; and little as ye seem to like either me or my house, or my good parritch, I'm your born uncle, Davie, my man, and you my born nephew. So give us the letter, and sit down and fill your kyte.""

  3. 3
    A measure of weight equivalent to ¹⁄₁₀ deben (about 0.32 ounces or 9.1 grams).

    "[…] in the great Harris papyrus, […] precise quantities are recorded by weight in terms of the deben (about 2½ oz.) and the qite (¼ oz.) of gold, silver, copper and precious stones, without any reference to their value. […] Five pots of honey were bought for five qite of silver and an ox for five qite of gold."

  4. 4
    any of several small graceful hawks of the family Accipitridae having long pointed wings and feeding on insects and small animals wordnet
  5. 5
    A bird of prey of the family Accipitridae.; Any bird of the subfamily Milvinae, with long wings and weak legs, feeding mostly on carrion and spending long periods soaring; specifically, the red kite (Milvus milvus) and the black kite (Milvus migrans).

    "The milvus, or kite, is a native of Europe, Asia, and Africa. […] Its motion in the air distinguishes it from all other birds, being so smooth and even that it is scarcely perceptible."

Show 18 more definitions
  1. 6
    plaything consisting of a light frame covered with tissue paper; flown in wind at end of a string wordnet
  2. 7
    A bird of prey of the family Accipitridae.; A bird of the genus Elanus, having thin pointed wings, that preys on rodents and hunts by hovering; also, any bird of related genera in the subfamily Elaninae.

    "The ‘white-tailed’ kites in the genus Elanus (‘kite’) are small, gull-like, grey-and-white hawks with black forewing patches and varying amounts of black on the underwings."

  3. 8
    a bank check drawn on insufficient funds at another bank in order to take advantage of the float wordnet
  4. 9
    A bird of prey of the family Accipitridae.; Some species in the subfamily Perninae.

    "The swallow-tailed kite of the New World (Elanoides forficatus) is a striking black and white bird of the subfamily Perninae. It is about 60 cm (24 inches) long, including its long forked tail. It is most common in tropical eastern South America but also occurs from Central America to the United States."

  5. 10
    a bank check that has been fraudulently altered to increase its face value wordnet
  6. 11
    A rapacious person. figuratively

    "deteſted kite, thou li[e]ſt[.] [M]y traine, and^([sic – meaning are]) men of choiſe and rareſt parts, that all particulars of dutie knowe, and in the moſt exact regard, ſupport the worſhip of their name, [...]"

  7. 12
    A lightweight toy or other device, traditionally flat and shaped like a triangle with a segment of a circle attached to its base or like a quadrilateral (see sense 9), carried on the wind and tethered and controlled from the ground by one or more lines.

    "On windy spring days, we would fly kites."

  8. 13
    A tethered object which deflects its position in a medium by obtaining lift and drag in reaction with its relative motion in the medium.

    "The purpose of the water kite is to float beneath or beside the ship at a depth sufficient to insure safety."

  9. 14
    A planetary configuration wherein one planet of a grand trine is in opposition to an additional fourth planet.

    "Frequently a kite formation is created by one of the planets in the trine by its opposition to another planet, which allows expulsion and redirection of the pent-up energy associated with a closed circuit."

  10. 15
    A blank cheque; a fraudulent cheque, such as one issued even though there are insufficient funds to honour it, or one that has been altered without authorization. slang

    "But she said, "if this was a kite, he didn't realize that you don't have the float time of the old days," which made check-kiting easier."

  11. 16
    An accommodation bill (“a bill of exchange endorsed by a reputable third party acting as a guarantor, as a favour and without compensation”). slang

    "The advantages which are alleged to belong to the district system [of banking] are the following:— […] as each bank will have an agent in London, the bills they draw will thus have two parties as securities, and the public will have a pledge that there is no excessive issue in the form of kites or accommodation bills."

  12. 17
    A rider who is good at climbs but less good at descents. slang
  13. 18
    A polygon resembling the shape of a traditional toy kite (sense 3): a quadrilateral having two pairs of edges of equal length, the edges of each pair touching each other at one end.

    "A kite is a quadrilateral with exactly two pairs of adjacent congruent sides. Note that a parallelogram has opposite congruent sides, whereas the congruent sides of kites are adjacent. Therefore, a kite is also a parallelogram only when both pairs of adjacent congruent sides of the kite are congruent to each other, making the kite a rhombus."

  14. 19
    An aeroplane or aircraft. slang

    "And did you know the Chiefie said that one of our kites went in the drink last night?"

  15. 20
    In a square-rigged ship: originally a sail positioned above a topsail; later a lightweight sail set above the topgallants, such as a studding sail or a jib topsail. dated

    "Our good master keeps his kites up to the last moment, studding-sails alow and aloft, and, by incessant straight steering, never loses a rod of way."

  16. 21
    A spinnaker (“supplementary sail to a mainsail”). slang

    "The key to a good gybe is to bring the spinnaker round to the old weather side before you begin, and then to steer to keep some wind in the kite."

  17. 22
    The brill (Scophthalmus rhombus), a type of flatfish. British, dialectal

    "Brill (Scophthalmus rhombus) Also known as kite or pearl. Brill reaches a maximum length of 75cm (29½in). It lives in the Eastern Atlantic, from Iceland to Morocco, throughout the Black Sea and the Mediterranean."

  18. 23
    A (usually concealed) letter or oral message, especially one passed illegally into, within, or out of a prison. US, slang

    "Officers must maintain control by making sure their inmate count is correct, by checking inmates' passes as they walk the hall […] This helps prevent the occasional juggling of goods, gang communication, such as kites (a written request from one inmate to another), and inmate assaults, such as face cuts or stabbings."

Verb
  1. 1
    To cause (something) to move upwards rapidly like a toy kite; also (chiefly US, figuratively) to cause (something, such as costs) to increase rapidly. transitive

    "Rising interest rates have kited the cost of housing."

  2. 2
    fly a kite wordnet
  3. 3
    To tamper with a document or record by increasing the quantity of something beyond its proper amount so that the difference may be unlawfully retained; in particular, to alter a medical prescription for this purpose by increasing the number of pills or other items. slang, transitive

    "A pharmacist "kited" and "shorted" a significant percentage of prescriptions. "Kiting" refers to the pharmacist's forging upward the number of pills originally prescribed by the physician, charging Medicaid for the increased amount but providing the patient with the originally prescribed quantity."

  4. 4
    soar or fly like a kite wordnet
  5. 5
    To keep ahead of (an enemy) and repeatedly attack it from a distance, without exposing oneself to danger. transitive
Show 11 more definitions
  1. 6
    get credit or money by using a bad check wordnet
  2. 7
    To attack (an enemy) or otherwise cause it to give chase, so as to lead it somewhere (like a kite is led on a string), for example into a trap or ambush or away from its comrades or something it was protecting. transitive

    "I hate it when my knight is kited away from the castle that I'm attacking!"

  3. 8
    increase the amount (of a check) fraudulently wordnet
  4. 9
    To (cause to) glide in the manner of a kite (“bird”). ambitransitive, transitive

    "If you're pulling or kiting a creature and it aggros an innocent passer-by, it's your fault and you should apologize."

  5. 10
    To manipulate like a toy kite; also, usually preceded by an inflection of go: to fly a toy kite. ambitransitive, rare

    "Want to go kite with me this weekend?"

  6. 11
    To write or present (a cheque) on an account with insufficient funds, either to defraud or expecting that funds will become available by the time the cheque clears. ambitransitive, slang

    "He was convicted of kiting checks and sentenced to two years in prison."

  7. 12
    To steal. US, ambitransitive, broadly, slang

    "Andy also kept a box of that [steel wool] in his cell, although he didn't get it from me—I imagine he kited it from the prison laundry."

  8. 13
    To travel by kite, as when kitesurfing. intransitive

    "We spent the afternoon kiting around the bay."

  9. 14
    To move rapidly; to rush. figuratively, intransitive

    "They commenced whipping their horses at the base, and, as one of the prisoners expressed it, "they went kiting up the hill, and for nearly a mile after the summit had been gained.""

  10. 15
    To deflect sideways in the water. intransitive

    "This column action causes the tow line to kite either to the port or the starboard side, […]"

  11. 16
    To pass a (usually concealed) letter or oral message, especially illegally, into, within, or out of a prison. US, intransitive, slang

    "Prison Hall in Central Hospital was claimed by some patients to be "organized" in the more extensive manner of prisons for the sane. Here, it was claimed, an attendant could be bribed to "kite" a letter or bring in contraband, […]"

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname. countable, uncountable
  2. 2
    A minor city in Johnson County, Georgia, United States, named after Shaderick Kight, who chose the spelling. countable, uncountable

Synonyms

All synonyms
aerofoil toyaeroplaneairborne toyaircraftairplaneaspire

Antonyms

clear fundsgroundlandlegitimate funds

Example

"Tom attached the string to the kite."

Common questions

What does "kite" mean?

A bird of prey of the family Accipitridae.

What is a synonym for "kite"?

Common synonyms include: aerofoil toy, aeroplane, airborne toy, aircraft, airplane, aspire.

How do you use "kite" in a sentence?

Tom attached the string to the kite.

How do you pronounce "kite"?

Pronounced /kʰaɪt/.

Etymology

Etymology 1

The noun is from Middle English kyte, kīte, kete (“a kite endemic to Europe, especially the red kite (Milvus milvus)”), from Old English cȳta (“kite; bittern”), from Proto-West Germanic *kūtijō, diminutive of Proto-Germanic *kūts (“bird of prey”), from Proto-Indo-European *gewH-d- (“to cry, screech”). The English word is cognate with Scots kyt, kyte (“kite; bird of prey”), Middle High German kiuzelīn, kützlīn (“owling”) (modern German Kauz (“owl”)). Possibly a doublet of coot. Sense 3 (“lightweight toy”) is from the fact that it hovers in the air like the bird. The verb is derived from the noun.

Etymology 2

Uncertain; possibly: * from Middle English kit, kitte (“wooden bucket or tub; (figuratively) belly”), possibly from Middle Dutch kitte (“wooden vessel of hooped staves”) (modern Dutch kit (“metal can used mainly for coal”)), further etymology unknown; or * from Old Norse kýta (“bag, stomach (of a fish)”), from Proto-Germanic *kūtiz. * from Middle English *kid (attested only in compounds such as kide-nẹ̄re (“kidney; region of the kidneys, loins”)), possibly from Old English *cyde, *cydde (“belly”), cwiþ (“belly; womb”), from Proto-Germanic *kweþuz (“belly, stomach”), from Proto-Indo-European *gʷet- or *gwet- (“rounding, swelling; entrails, stomach”), doubtfully from *gʷu-, *gū- (“to bend, bow, curve, distend, vault”). The English word is cognate with Icelandic kviði (“womb”), kviður (“stomach”), kýta (“stomach of a fish; roe”), Middle Low German kūt (“entrails”), West Flemish kijte, kiete (“fleshy part of the body”).

Etymology 3

Borrowed from Coptic ⲕⲓⲧⲉ (kite), from Demotic Egyptian qt, from Egyptian qdt.

Etymology 4

* As an English surname, from the noun kite (“bird of prey”). * As a German surname, Americanized from Keith. * Also as an English surname, from placenames derived from Old English cȳte (“hut, cottage”).

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