kite

A bird of prey of the family Accipitridae.

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

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.
• In Hindu erotic literature, to consummate sexual supremacy, a prescription often in use requires a mixture of honey and cowach, the prickly hairs of a tropical pod, along with the remains of a dead kite, in pulverized form.

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.

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 Am

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, [...]

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.

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.

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.

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.

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 pledg

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.

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.slangtransitive

• Pharmacists have kited Medicaid prescriptions by raising the number of pills called for on a prescription blank from, say, 100 to 200, and billing Medicaid for the larger amount.

To keep ahead of (an enemy) and repeatedly attack it from a distance, without exposing oneself to danger.transitive

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!

To (cause to) glide in the manner of a kite (“bird”).ambitransitivetransitive

• The wind kited us toward shore.

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

• Want to go kite with me this weekend?

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.ambitransitiveslang

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

To steal.USambitransitivebroadly

• 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.
• Little bastards were always trying to kite stuff, particularly the candy and the girly magazines.

To travel by kite, as when kitesurfing.intransitive

• We spent the afternoon kiting around the bay.

To move rapidly; to rush.figurativelyintransitive

• 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."
• […] the big boy stuck his foot out so she fell. Nursie saw and started for her, but she scrambled up and went kiting for the bench, and climbed on it, […]

The stomach; the belly.Northern-EnglandScotlanddialectal

• Don't live like vegetarians On food they give to parrots, Blow out your kite, from morn 'til night, On boiled beef and carrots.

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

• The scribe of the temple Sedy set out with the pure priest and goldsmith Tuty for the frames; they removed one deben and three and a half qite of gold, which they took for the chief of the gang Pameniu.
• The shekel was an Israelite unit of weight that appears to have weighed about 10g, and so it is the rough equivalent of the Egyptian kite, which also weighed about 10g.