kickshaw

English

Etymology

From Middle French quelque chose (“something”).

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈkɪk.ʃɔː/

Noun

kickshaw (plural kickshaws)

1. A dainty or delicacy.
   • c. 1596–1599 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Second Part of Henry the Fourth, ”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies  (First Folio), London: Isaac Iaggard, and Ed Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 96, column 1:

     Some Pigeons Davy, a couple of ſhort-legg'd Hennes: a / ioynt of Mutton, and any pretty little tine Kickſhawes, / tell William Cooke.

   • 1820, Percy Bysshe Shelley, Oedipus Tyrannus; Or, Swellfoot The Tyrant: A Tragedy in Two Acts, page 39:

     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.

   • 1886, William Carew Hazlitt, “The Early Englishman and His Food”, in Old Cookery Books and Ancient Cuisine, published 1902:

     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."

   • 1923, Walter de la Mare, Seaton's Aunt:

     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.

2. A trinket or gewgaw.
   • 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 Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, , page 257, column 1:

     Art thou good at theſe kicke-chawſes Knight?

Further reading

• “kickshaw”, in Lexico, Dictionary.com; Oxford University Press, 2019–2022.