kettle

1. (n) (cooking) A vessel for boiling a liquid or cooking food, usually metal and equipped with a lid. 2. (n) A vessel or appliance used to boil water for the preparation of hot beverages and other foodstuffs. 3. (n) The quantity held by a kettle. 4. (n) (ornithology, collective) A group of raptors riding a thermal, especially when migrating. 5. (n) (rail transport, slang) A steam locomotive. 6. (n) (music) A kettledrum. 7. (n) An instance of kettling; a group of protesters or rioters confined in a limited area. 8. (v) (originally British, of the police) To contain demonstrators in a confined area. 9. (n) (geology) A kettle hole, sometimes any pothole. 10. (v) (intransitive) Of a boiler: to make a whistling sound like the boiling of a kettle, indicative of various types of fault. 11. (n) (slang) A watch (timepiece). 12. (n) A bucket for holding a quantity of paint during the painting process. 13. (n) A surname. 14. (n) An unincorporated community in Cumberland County, Kentucky, United States, named after a creek. 15. (n) An unincorporated community in Roane County, West Virginia, United States, named after a summit. 16. (n) Synonym of Kingskettle, Fife, Scotland. 17. (n) Alternative form of kiddle (“kind of fishweir”). [A kind of fishweir resembling a wattle or fence.]