kitchen

Less common meanings

4. 4
   pickleballnouncountable

   In pickleball, the non-volley zone: the area beside the net on each side in which players may not strike the ball before it has bounced.

   He dropped a soft shot into the kitchen, forcing his opponent to let it bounce.

   Her foot landed in the kitchen as she volleyed, and the referee called a fault.

   Note

   Players say kitchen; the formal name is the non-volley zone, and both mean the same strip beside the net. What is forbidden there is the volley, not the visit: a ball that has bounced may be played from inside it, but a foot landing in the zone while volleying is a fault. A soft shot dropped short enough into the kitchen can make the opponent wait for the bounce. Source

   Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

   • Kitchen and non-volley zone name the same area beside the net. usapickleball.org
   • Players may enter the zone and play a ball after it bounces. en.wikipedia.org
   • Stepping into the zone while volleying is a fault. usapickleball.org
   • An opponent outside the zone may reach over it and volley a reachable soft shot; sufficiently short placement can force a bounced return. usapickleball.org
5. 5
   neck hairnoun

   The hair at the nape of the neck, especially when tightly curled or uncombed.

   After the rain, the kitchen at the nape of her neck curled up tight.

   She asked the stylist to smooth out her kitchen before the photos.

   Note

   A word from African-American Vernacular English, used in talk about hair and its care. It usually carries a judgment about texture: the kitchen is the part at the nape that stays tightly curled or uncombed, the "nappy" part. It belongs to the community's own speech about hair, so it reads as insider talk. Because of its link with "nappy", it can sound pointed coming from someone outside that community. Source

   Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 1 fact

   • The hair-related sense belongs chiefly to African-American Vernacular English. en.wiktionary.org
6. 6
   meat roasternoundatedcountable

   A metal device used for roasting meat before an open fire.

   The museum guide showed how a tin kitchen, open on one side, reflected the fire's heat onto a turning spit.

   There are two modes of roasting: One is to use a tin kitchen before an open fire, and the other, and more common way, is to use a hot oven.

   1897, The Warm Springs Receipt-book

   Similarroaster

   Note

   Hearth cookery's word, now dated. Its usual form is tin kitchen, a metal stand that reflects a fire's heat onto the meat. The Warm Springs Receipt-book of 1897 already treats it as one of two ways to roast and calls the hot oven the more common way. Today the word reads as period vocabulary. Source

   Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 4 facts

   • A tin kitchen is a metal cooking device used beside an open fire. en.wikipedia.org
   • The device reflects heat onto roasting meat. americancenturies.org
   • The Warm Springs Receipt-Book was published in 1897. libguides.lib.msu.edu
   • The book describes two roasting methods and says the hot oven is more common. en.wiktionary.org
7. 7
   relishnounobsolete

   Anything eaten as a relish with a staple such as bread or potatoes to add flavor; a condiment.

   Note

   The noun behind the verb "to season": whatever made plain bread or potatoes easier to eat. In Robert Louis Stevenson's Kidnapped (1886), a host recalls that "we were glad to get the meat and never fashed for kitchen." In his Scots, that means nobody troubled about relish. The sense is obsolete. Recognize it in older writing, but do not use it for a condiment today. Source

   Checked 6 Nov 2026 · 6 facts

   • The relish noun underlies the verb meaning to season. truthbook.com
   • Kitchen can mean a relish eaten with bread or potatoes. en.wiktionary.org
   • Robert Louis Stevenson wrote Kidnapped, first published in 1886. en.wikipedia.org
   • The quoted words occur exactly as given and are spoken by the host, Cluny. gutenberg.org
   • The quotation's wording is accurate. gutenberg.org
   • Fashed means troubled oneself or took pains, supporting the explanation of the Scots quotation. en.wiktionary.org
8. 8
   verb

   To do the work of a kitchen; to prepare and cook food.

   A dress scarcely suited to woodland kitchening was defended by an apron borrowed from the maid.

   1842, Caroline Matilda Kirkland, Forest Life - Volume 2
9. 9
   verb

   To improve a basic food by seasoning it or adding condiments.

   This was seasoned with salt and sometimes kitchened with butter.

   1907, Thomas Finlayson Henderson, Francis Watt
10. 10
    verb

    To make something more elaborate or attractive; to dress up.

    But as in his novels and other work there is a 'kitchening' of the material, a tentativeness.

    2003, Patrick Kavanagh, Antoinette Quinn
11. 11
    noun

    A simplified or unrefined form of a language, typically picked up by ear rather than formally studied.
12. 12
    noun

    The percussion section of an orchestra, taken as a group.
13. 13
    noun

    In billiards and pool, the part of the table behind the head string, between it and the head rail.
14. 14
    nounslang

    A public gambling room in a casino, open to ordinary players.