Etymology From Middle English kynde, kinde, from Old English cynd, ġecynd (“inherent nature, disposition, kind, gender, generation, race”), from Proto-West Germanic *kundi, from Proto-Germanic *kinþiz, related to Proto-Germanic *kunją (“race, kin”) and Old English cennan (“to bear, give birth”). Cognate with Old High German gikunt (“nature, kind”), Icelandic kind (“race, species, kind”). Doublet of gens, genesis, and jati. See also kin.
A type, race or category; a group of entities that have common characteristics such that they may be grouped together.
What kind of (a) person are you?
What kind of ice-cream would you like? There's chocolate, strawberry, and lemon.
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Neither of them is the marrying kind.
How diversely Love doth his pageants play, / And shews his powre in variable kinds !1590, Edmund Spenser, “Book III, Canto V”, in The Faerie Queene. […], London: […] [John Wolfe] for William Ponsonbie, →OCLC, stanza 1:
“[…] the awfully hearty sort of Christmas cards that people do send to other people that they don't know at all well. You know. The kind that have mottoes like Here's rattling good luck and roaring good cheer, / With lashings of food and great hogsheads of beer. […]”1921, Ben Travers, chapter 1, in A Cuckoo in the Nest, Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday, Page & Company, published 1925, →OCLC:
That in virtue of which all of his material parts are of the same kind human being is what makes those parts belong to Hook, but Hook is neither identical with his kind (the essence of human being), nor is Hook merely that which makes him a member of the kind or all his parts human (his soul).2022, James Dominic Rooney, Material Objects in Confucian and Aristotelian Metaphysics, page 166:
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A makeshift or otherwise atypical specimen.
The opening served as a kind of window.
I got my traps out of the canoe and made me a nice camp in the thick woods. I made a kind of a tent out of my blankets to put my things under so the rain couldn't get at them.1884 December 10, Mark Twain [pseudonym; Samuel Langhorne Clemens], chapter VIII, in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn: (Tom Sawyer’s Comrade) […], London: Chatto & Windus, […], →OCLC:
Must yt nedes folowe that theyr fayth was chaunged in kynde, bycause yt was augmented in degrees.1533, Thomas More, The second parte of the confutacion of Tyndals answere in whyche is also confuted the chyrche that Tyndale deuyseth:
The generall woorde, is spoken of many, that differ either in kynd, or els in nombre.1551, Thomas Wilson, The rule of reason, conteinyng the arte of logique:
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'Tis all one..whether our Afflictions be the same with those of others, in Kind, or not Superiour to them in Degree.1665, Robert Boyle, Occasional Reflections upon Several Subjects. Whereto is premis'd a Discourse about such kind of thoughts:
He also argued powerfully, if less influentially, that animals' and humans' capacities differ largely in degree and not in kind.2002, D. DeGrazia, Animal Rights:
My young love said to me, My mother won’t mind And my father won’t slight you for your lack of kind."She Moved through the Fair" (traditional Irish folk song)
Fish kind was what she ate then.1998, Easton Lee, From Behind the Counter: Poems from a Rural Jamaican Experience:
The farmers had plenty of ground provisions, but there was no "meat kind."2005 January 1, Michaeline A. Crichlow, Negotiating Caribbean Freedom: Peasants and the State in Development, Lexington Books, →ISBN, page 116:
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They can be served with fried fish, chicken, ackee and salt fish or other meat kind, as well as eaten separately as a treat.2013 06, Wellesley Gayle, The Jamaica Insider Guide, Lulu.com, →ISBN, page 30:
Etymology From Middle English kynde, kinde, from Old English cynde, ġecynde (“innate, natural, native”), from Old English cynd, ġecynd (“nature, kind”).
1
Having a benevolent, courteous, friendly, generous, gentle, liberal, sympathetic, or warm-hearted nature or disposition, marked by consideration for – and service to – others.
Some ſay that Rauens foſter forlorne children, / The vvhilſt their ovvne birds famiſh in their neſts: / Oh be to me though thy hard hart ſay no, / Nothing ſo kinde but ſomething pittifull.c. 1588–1593 (date written), [William Shakespeare], The Most Lamentable Romaine Tragedie of Titus Andronicus: […] (First Quarto), London: […] Iohn Danter, and are to be sold by Edward White & Thomas Millington, […], published 1594, →OCLC, [Act II, scene iii], signature D3, verso:
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Affectionate.
a kind man; a kind heart
Yet was he kind, or if severe in aught, / The love he bore to learning was in fault.1770, [Oliver] Goldsmith, The Deserted Village, a Poem, London: […] W[illiam] Griffin, […], →OCLC:
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Favorable.
Thy words aſſure me of kind ſucceſſe: / Go valiant Souldier, go before and charge / The fainting army of that foolish King.c. 1587–1588 (date written), [Christopher Marlowe], Tamburlaine the Great. […] The First Part […], 2nd edition, part 1, London: […] [R. Robinson for] Richard Iones, […], published 1592, →OCLC; reprinted as Tamburlaine the Great (A Scolar Press Facsimile), Menston, Yorkshire; London: Scolar Press, 1973, →ISBN, Act II, scene iii:
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Mild, gentle, forgiving
The years have been kind to Richard Gere; he ages well.
5
Gentle; tractable; easily governed.
a horse kind in harness
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Obsolete Characteristic of the species; belonging to one's nature; natural; native.
it becommeth sweeter than it should be, and loseth the kind tast.1601, C[aius] Plinius Secundus [i.e., Pliny the Elder], “(please specify |book=I to XXXVII)”, in Philemon Holland, transl., The Historie of the World. Commonly Called, The Naturall Historie of C. Plinius Secundus. […], (please specify |tome=1 or 2), London: […] Adam Islip, →OCLC: