kid
Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English
kid
I. kid1 S1 W2 /kɪd/ BrE AmE noun
[Date: 1100-1200; Language: Old Norse; Origin: kith]
1. [countable] informal a child:
She’d always loved animals since she was a little kid.
He’s married with three kids.
A neighbor volunteered to keep an eye on the kids (=their children or the children they are responsible for).
REGISTER
Kid is informal. For formal or written styles use child:
▪ Research suggests that children from abusive families are likely to repeat violent behaviour.
2. [countable] informal a young person:
college kids
3. [countable usually singular] used by adults to address a person who is younger than them:
Hey kid, come here.
4. kid’s stuff (also kid stuff American English) something that is too easy or boring:
Pokémon? Oh boy, that is kid stuff!
5.
a) [countable] a young goat
b) [uncountable] very soft leather made from the skin of a young goat:
a pair of white kid boots
6. kid gloves a way of treating someone kindly and carefully because they easily become upset
treat/handle somebody with kid gloves
I want you to treat Hayley with kid gloves today. She’s still upset about her father.
• • •
THESAURUS
▪ child someone who is not yet an adult. You don’t usually use child to talk about babies or teenagers: Many children are scared of the dark. | He’s just a child.
▪ kid informal a child. Kid is the usual word to use in everyday spoken English: We left the kids in the car.
▪ little boy/little girl a young male or female child: I lived there when I was a little girl. | Little boys love dinosaurs.
▪ teenager someone between the ages of 13 and 19: There’s not much for teenagers to do around here.
▪ adolescent a young person who is developing into an adult – used especially when talking about the problems these people have: He changed from a cheerful child to a confused adolescent.
▪ youth especially disapproving a teenage boy – especially one who is violent and commits crimes: He was attacked by a gang of youths. | a youth court
▪ youngster a child or young person – used especially by old people: You youngsters have got your whole life ahead of you. | He’s a bright youngster with a good sense of humour.
▪ minor law someone who is not yet legally an adult: It is illegal to sell alcohol to a minor.
II. kid2 S2 BrE AmE verb (past tense and past participle kidded, present participle kidding) informal
[Date: 1500-1600; Origin: Probably from ⇨ ↑kid1]
1. [intransitive and transitive] to say something that is not true, especially as a joke SYN joke
just/only kidding
Don’t get mad – I was only kidding.
2. [transitive] to make jokes or say funny things about someone in a friendly way SYN tease
kid somebody about something
We were kidding Mom about being a grandmother.
kid somebody (that)
My friends kidded me that my gear would fill the car.
3. no kidding?/are you kidding?/you’re kidding spoken used when you are so surprised by what someone has told you that you do not completely believe them:
Carlotta’s 39? No kidding?
4. no kidding spoken
a) used to say that you understand and agree with what someone has just said:
‘That girl has some major problems.’ ‘Yeah, no kidding.’
b) used to emphasize a threat or that you are telling the truth:
If you break that thing, you’ll be grounded for a week – no kidding.
And then he saw us and – no kidding – he asked us if we wanted a ride.
5. [transitive] to let yourself believe something that is untrue or unlikely
kid yourself (that)
Don’t kid yourself he’ll ever change.
We thought we could change the world. Just who were we trying to kid?
6. I kid you not spoken used to emphasize that you are telling the truth
—kidding noun [uncountable]
kid around phrasal verb
to behave in a silly way:
Stop kidding around and listen.
III. kid3 BrE AmE adjective
kid sister/brother especially American English informal your kid sister or brother is younger than you are SYN little sister/brother British English
Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary
kid
kid [kid kids kidded kidding] noun, verb, adjective [kɪd] 
[kɪd] 
noun
1. countable (informal) a child or young person
• A bunch of kids were hanging around outside.
• a kid of 15
• She's a bright kid.
• How are the kids (= your children)?
• Do you have any kids? Kid is much more common than child in informal and spoken NAmE.
2. countable a young goat
3. uncountable soft leather made from the skin of a young goat
• a pair of white kid gloves
more at a new kid on the block at new
Word Origin:
n. Middle English Old Norse kith Germanic German Kitze
v. early 19th cent. kid
Thesaurus:
kid noun C (informal)
• He's just a kid. You can't expect him to understand.
child • • boy • • girl • • toddler • • baby • • teenager • |informal youngster • |especially BrE, informal lad • |especially AmE, informal teen • |often disapproving youth • |informal, disapproving brat • |formal technical infant • |law minor • • juvenile •
Opp: grown-up, Opp: adult
a young kid/child/boy/girl/baby/teenager/lad/infant
a spoiled kid/child/brat
look after/take care of a kid/child/baby
Kid or child? Kid is much more frequent in informal and spoken American English. Child is not often used of sb older than about 12; above that age you can call them kids, teenagers, young people, girls, youths or lads.
Collocations:
Children
Having a baby/child
want a baby/a child/kids
start a family
conceive/be expecting/be going to have a baby/child
miss your period
become/get/ be/find out that you are pregnant
have a baby/a child/kids/a son/a daughter/twins/a family
have a normal/a difficult/an unwanted pregnancy; an easy/a difficult/a home birth
be in/go into/induce labour (especially US) labor
have/suffer/cause a miscarriage
give birth to a child/baby/daughter/son/twins
Parenting
bring up/ (especially NAmE) raise a child/family
care for/ (especially BrE) look after a baby/child/kid
change (BrE) a nappy/(NAmE) a diaper/a baby
feed/breastfeed/bottle-feed a baby
be entitled to/go on maternity/paternity leave
go back/return to work after maternity leave
need/find/get a babysitter/good quality affordable childcare
balance/combine work and childcare/child-rearing/family life
educate/teach/home-school a child/kid
punish/discipline/spoil a child/kid
adopt a baby/child/kid
offer a baby for/put a baby up for adoption
(especially BrE) foster a child/kid
be placed with/be raised by foster parents
Example Bank:
• He's only a kid. You can't expect him to understand what's going on.
• Here are some fun ways to teach your kids about healthy eating.
• I feel desperately sorry for the poor kid.
• I was the fat kid through most of my teenage years.
• I've tried to bring my kids up to respect other people.
• Now what are you two crazy kids doing?
• She had offered to watch the kids many times so Toby could go out.
• She had wanted more kids.
• She was crying like a kid.
• She was just a normal kid.
• That was kids' stuff compared with what lies ahead.
• The movie is pure kids' stuff from beginning to end.
• The older kids had lessons in the afternoon as well.
• They had adopted three kids.
• They had sixteen foster kids and two of their own.
• They're just a bunch of kids.
• We both wanted to have kids.
• a gang of local kids
• a skinny little kid who looked to be no older than fourteen
• a spoiled little rich kid
• legislation to protect kids from violence and harassment in their schools
• street kids who rely on their ingenuity to keep alive
• How are the kids?
• I have to take the/my kids to school
Idioms: kids' stuff ▪ no kidding ▪ treat somebody with kid gloves ▪ you must be kidding ▪ you're kidding
Derived: kid around
verb (-dd-)(informal)
1. intransitive, transitive (usually used in the progressive tenses) to tell sb sth that is not true, especially as a joke
Syn: joke
• I thought he was kidding when he said he was going out with a rock star.
• I didn't mean it. I was only kidding.
• ~ sb I'm not kidding you. It does work.
2. transitive to allow sb/yourself to believe sth that is not true
Syn: deceive
• ~ sb/yourself They're kidding themselves if they think it's going to be easy.
• ~ sb/yourself (that)… I tried to kid myself (that) everything was normal.
Word Origin:
n. Middle English Old Norse kith Germanic German Kitze
v. early 19th cent. kid
Example Bank:
• Don't look so worried— I was just kidding.
• He was only kidding about the car having disappeared.
• Oh come on, who are you trying to kid?.
• I didn't mean it. I was only kidding.
• I'm not kidding you. It does work.
• Of course you don't have to work at weekends— I was only joking/kidding!
• She fired you? You're kidding! Why?
• They're kidding themselves if they think it's going to be easy.
• Were you joking/kidding when you told him to leave?
adjective ~ sister/brother (informal, especially NAmE)
a person's younger sister/brother
Word Origin:
n. Middle English Old Norse kith Germanic German Kitze
v. early 19th cent. kid
Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary
kid
kid (JOKE) /kɪd/
verb [I or T] -dd- INFORMAL
1 to say something as a joke, often making someone believe something that is not true:
Oh no, I've forgotten your birthday! Hey, just/only kidding!
You won first prize? You're kidding! (= I'm really surprised.)
I'm just kidding you!
2 kid yourself to believe something that is not true, usually because you want it to be true:
He says there's a good chance she'll come back to him but I think he's kidding himself.
kid (ANIMAL) /kɪd/
noun
1 [C] a young goat
2 [U] very soft leather made from the skin of a young goat:
kid gloves
kid (CHILD) /kɪd/
noun [C]
1 INFORMAL a child:
He took the kids to the park while I was working.
2 INFORMAL a young person:
He was only 16, just a kid really.
3 MAINLY US INFORMAL sb's kid sister/brother someone's younger sister or brother
Collins COBUILD Advanced Learner’s English Dictionary
kid
/kɪd/
(kids, kidding, kidded)
Frequency: The word is one of the 1500 most common words in English.
1.
You can refer to a child as a kid. (INFORMAL)
They’ve got three kids...
All the kids in my class could read.
N-COUNT
2.
You can refer to your younger brother as your kid brother and your younger sister as your kid sister. (INFORMAL)
ADJ: ADJ n
3.
A kid is a young goat.
N-COUNT
4.
If you are kidding, you are saying something that is not really true, as a joke. (INFORMAL)
I’m not kidding, Frank. There’s a cow out there, just standing around...
Are you sure you’re not kidding me?
VERB: usu cont, V, V n
5.
If you kid someone, you tease them.
He liked to kid Ingrid a lot...
He used to kid me about being chubby.
VERB: V n, V n about -ing/n
6.
If people kid themselves, they allow themselves to believe something that is not true because they wish that it was true.
We’re kidding ourselves, Bill. We’re not winning, we’re not even doing well...
I could kid myself that you did this for me, but it would be a lie.
= fool
VERB: V pron-refl, V pron-refl that
7.
You can say ‘No kidding?’ to show that you are interested or surprised when someone tells you something. (INFORMAL)
‘We won.’—‘No kidding?’
CONVENTION [feelings]
8.
You can say ‘you’ve got to be kidding’ or ‘you must be kidding’ to someone if they have said something that you think is ridiculous or completely untrue. (INFORMAL)
You’ve got to be kidding! I can’t live here!...
PHRASE: V inflects [feelings]
9.
You can say ‘who is she kidding?’ or ‘who is he trying to kid?’ if you think it is obvious that someone is not being sincere and does not mean what they say. (INFORMAL)
She played the role of a meek, innocent, shy girl. I don’t know who she was trying to kid...
