noun
kettle
KEH-tuhl
noun
1
A container with a spout used for boiling water.
"She put the kettle on as soon as guests arrived."
"The kettle whistled loudly on the stove."
verb
1
Of police: to confine a crowd of protesters or demonstrators within a tight cordon.
"Officers kettled the protesters for several hours near the square."
How to Use Kettle
Learner’s notesIn plain EnglishMost commonly the pot you boil water in; also a policing tactic of penning in a crowd.
Common pairings
boil the kettle
put the kettle on
kettle protesters
Word Forms
kettled past tense, Kettles plural, kettles singular
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Etymology
From Old English cietel, related to Old Norse ketill, both ultimately from a Germanic word for a vessel or cauldron; the policing sense is a modern figurative extension, comparing a contained crowd to water trapped in a kettle.