kid
noun
a child or young person.
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kidded.
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Which actor portrayed the Sundance Kid in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid?
kid
1 American
[kid]
/ kɪd /
noun
-
kids
plural
-
Informal. a child or young person.
-
(used as a familiar form of address.)
-
a young goat.
-
leather made from the skin of a kid or goat, used in making shoes and gloves.
-
a glove made from this leather.
verb (used with or without object)
kidded,
kidding
kid
2
American
[kid]
/ kɪd /
Kid
3
American
[kid]
/ kɪd /
noun
kid
1
British
/ kɪd /
noun
-
the young of a goat or of a related animal, such as an antelope
-
soft smooth leather made from the hide of a kid
-
informal
-
a young person; child
-
(modifier) younger or being still a child
kid brother
kid sister
-
-
dialect my younger brother or sister
verb
kid
2
British
/ kɪd /
verb
-
(tr) to tease or deceive for fun
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(intr) to behave or speak deceptively for fun
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(tr) to delude or fool (oneself) into believing (something)
don't kid yourself that no-one else knows
Kid
3
British
/ kɪd /
noun
kid
4
British
/ kɪd /
noun
kid
Idioms
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of kid1
First recorded in 1150–1200; Middle English kide, from Old Norse kith
Origin of kid2
First recorded in 1805–15; perhaps special use of kid 1
Explanation
If a farmer offers to introduce you to her kid, you might not know if she means her child or her baby goat. A kid is a child, informally, and it's also a young goat. Sometimes the word kid means a kind of soft leather made from goat skin. When kid is used as a verb, it means to tease or jokingly deceive someone — to kid them. Some sticklers for formality object to using kid to mean "child," but that meaning has been around since the 1590s. The "teasing" definition of kid comes from the sense of "treat like a child."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
Allstar has long been a champion of UK rap and currently presents the Rap Show on BBC Radio 1, which he describes as "the show I always wanted as a kid".
From BBC ● Nov. 6, 2026
I used to bowl a lot when I was a kid and I just recently got back into it three or four years ago.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026
“You truly feel like a kid and you’ve imagined yourself more grown up battling in some fantastical place,” the actor says.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 5, 2026
His announcement that he intends to give one SpaceX share to “every kid in America” next year is more than an extraordinary act of generosity.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 3, 2026
She’d stood over him the entire time, her eyes narrowed and mouth pursed into a thin line, and the kid had practically shrunk five inches by the time it was all over.
From "Glitch" by Laura Martin
We made a song with DJ Flict — who produced it — Kid Ink and myself as a theme song for the team and it just so happened that they won the Cup that year.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026
The latest back and forth between Trump and Maher stemmed from a mid-October White House dinner with ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith and musician Kid Rock.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 31, 2026
She pivoted to film and TV movies after the series ended, garnering roles in “Love at First Bite,” “The Kid from Nowhere,” and “Don’t Cry, It’s Only Thunder.”
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 27, 2026
Eminem spends bar after bar defending his decision to even appear on the song, touting his decades-long friendship with Kid Rock and their intertwined history in the music industry.
From Salon ● Oct. 21, 2026
They learned about American history that day by watching Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid on video.
From "Friday Night Lights: A Town, A Team, And A Dream" by H.G. Bissinger
It turns out that there’s a reason the book was inescapable for so many kids.
From Slate ● Nov. 6, 2026
The Cat and the kids dive into their cardboard boxes to find the misplaced Go-Backer and discover vast, amazing worlds informed by their interests and imaginations.
From Los Angeles Times ● Nov. 6, 2026
Nor are today’s kids even likely to notice when it’s raining, which in Dr. Seuss’s book was the reason the kids were imprisoned in the house and unable to join in their usual outdoor frolic.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Nov. 5, 2026
Related: ‘He was heartbroken’: My husband’s kids abandoned him when he was dying.
From MarketWatch ● Nov. 4, 2026
And while the other kids behind him run around to the backyard, the kid in the hat comes toward us.
From "Split the Sky" by Marie Arnold
This claim of passivity kidded nobody except maybe himself.
From Slate ● Jun. 16, 2025
Roberts kidded Ohtani about gifting him when the modest record was inevitably broken, and the new Dodgers slugger obliged with the toy.
From Los Angeles Times ● Jun. 5, 2025
“I remember walking across the street to Pickles before the playoffs started. My kids kidded me, said, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if you just walked in there?’”
From Washington Times ● Aug. 4, 2023
In flight, Sadat kidded her about her salary; his was only $12,000.
From Washington Post ● Dec. 30, 2022
“Seems like someone’s becoming one-hundred-percent Amer-icanized,” Theresa kidded.
From "Typical American" by Gish Jen
"I will let you keep ice hockey, and I will let you keep your 'O Canada' national anthem," he promised before adding: "We're only kidding."
From BBC ● Oct. 20, 2026
The man wasn’t kidding when he told us he’d figured something out.
From Los Angeles Times ● Oct. 7, 2026
I’m kidding: Even under normal circumstances, giving private companies this much power is likely to incentivize inventing enemies to fight or drive unnecessary spending.
From Salon ● Aug. 17, 2026
Hearing the poems recited in the epic Greek of antiquity would be a purist’s ideal—nothing more authentic than that—but who are we kidding?
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jul. 10, 2026
“Are you kidding me? Your feet are, like, fourteens,” Tadeo says, hopping out.
From "The Tenth Mistake of Hank Hooperman" by Gennifer Choldenko
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Get a wordDefinitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
