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From The Collaborative International Dictionary of English v.0.44 [gcide]:
Kidney \Kid"ney\ (k[i^]d"n[y^]), noun; pl. {Kidneys} (k[i^]d"n[i^]z). [OE. kidnei, kidnere, from Icel. koi[eth]r belly, womb (akin to Goth. gipus, AS. cwi[thorn] womb) + OE. nere kidney; akin to D. nier, G. niere, OHG. nioro, Icel. n[=y]ra, Dan. nyre, Sw. njure, and probably to Gr. nefro's Cf. {Kite} belly.]
1. (Anat.) A glandular organ which excretes urea and other waste products from the animal body; a urinary gland.
Note: In man and in other mammals there are two kidneys, one on each side of vertebral column in the back part of the abdomen, each kidney being connected with the bladder by a long tube, the ureter, through which the urine is constantly excreted into the bladder to be periodically discharged.
2. Habit; disposition; sort; kind; as, a man of a different kidney. --Shak. [1913 Webster +PJC]
There are in later times other decrees, made by popes of another kidney. --Barrow.
Millions in the world of this man's kidney. --L'Estrange.
Your poets, spendthrifts, and other fools of that kidney, pretend, forsooth, to crack their jokes on prudence. --Burns.
Note: This use of the word perhaps arose from the fact that the kidneys and the fat about them are an easy test of the condition of an animal as to fatness. ''Think of that, -- a man of my kidney; -- . . . as subject to heat as butter.'' --Shak.
3. A waiter. [Old Cant] --Tatler.
{Floating kidney}. See {Wandering kidney}, under {Wandering}.
{Kidney bean} (Bot.), a sort of bean; -- so named from its shape. It is of the genus {Phaseolus} ({Phaseolus vulgaris}). See under {Bean}.
{Kidney ore} (Min.), a variety of hematite or iron sesquioxide, occurring in compact kidney-shaped masses.
{Kidney stone}. (Min.) See {Nephrite}, and {Jade}.
{Kidney vetch} (Bot.), a leguminous herb of Europe and Asia ({Anthyllis vulneraria}), with cloverlike heads of red or yellow flowers, once used as a remedy for renal disorders, and also to stop the flow of blood from wounds; lady's-fingers.
From WordNet (r) 2.0 [wn]:
kidney
noun: either of two bean-shaped excretory organs that filter wastes (especially urea) from the blood and excrete them and water in urine; urine passes out of the kidney through ureters to the bladder
From Moby Thesaurus II by Grady Ward, 1.0 [moby-thes]:
135 Moby Thesaurus words for "kidney": abatis, abdomen, animus, anus, appendix, aptitude, bent, bias, blind gut, blood, bowels, brain, brains, brand, breed, cast, cecum, character, chitterlings, clan, cockscomb, colon, color, constitution, denomination, description, designation, diathesis, disposition, duodenum, eccentricity, endocardium, entrails, feather, foregut, form, genre, genus, giblets, gizzard, glomerulonephritis, grain, guts, haslet, heart, hindgut, idiosyncrasy, ilk, inclination, individualism, innards, inner mechanism, insides, internals, intestine, inwards, jejunum, kidney stone, kidneys, kin, kind, kishkes, label, large intestine, leaning, line, liver, liver and lights, lot, lung, make, makeup, manner, mark, marrow, mental set, mettle, midgut, mind, mind-set, mold, nature, nephritis, nephrolithosis, nephrosis, number, perineum, persuasion, phylum, predilection, predisposition, preference, proclivity, propensity, pump, pylorus, race, rectum, renal calculus, renal hematuria, set, shape, slant, small intestine, sort, species, spleen, stamp, stomach, strain, streak, stripe, style, sweetbread, temper, temperament, tendency, the like of, the likes of, ticker, tongue, tribe, tripe, tripes, turn, turn of mind, twist, type, uremia, variety, vermiform appendix, viscera, vitals, warp, works
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