kite

/kaɪt/

/kaɪt/

Other forms: kites; kiting; kited

A kite is a diamond-shaped flying toy on a string that's usually made of fabric or paper. If someone tells you "to go fly a kite," they want to get rid of you. If you follow their directions, however, you will end up having fun.

When you fly a kite, you unspool your string as the kite catches a breeze and rises higher and higher in the air. Kites were first flown in China, most likely around the fifth century BCE. Another kind of kite is the small hawk famous in ancient Egyptian mythology as the animal form taken by Isis when she brought the dead back to life. The toy kite is named after the bird, since they both soar through the air.

Definitions of kite

1. noun

   plaything consisting of a light frame covered with tissue paper; flown in wind at end of a string
   types:

   box kite

   a kite shaped like a box open at both ends

   sport kite, stunt kite

   a maneuverable kite controlled by two lines and flown with both hands

   type of:

   plaything, toy

   an artifact designed to be played with
2. verb

   fly a kite
   “Kids were kiting in the park”

   “They kited the Red Dragon model”

   type of:

   fly

   cause to fly or float
3. verb

   soar or fly like a kite
   “The pilot kited for a long time over the mountains”

   type of:

   glide

   fly in or as if in a glider plane
4. noun

   a bank check that has been fraudulently altered to increase its face value
   type of:

   bank check, check, cheque

   a written order directing a bank to pay money
5. noun

   a bank check drawn on insufficient funds at another bank in order to take advantage of the float
   type of:

   bank check, check, cheque

   a written order directing a bank to pay money
6. verb

   increase the amount (of a check) fraudulently
   “He kited many checks”

   type of:

   increase

   make bigger or more
7. verb

   get credit or money by using a bad check
   “The businessman kited millions of dollars”

   type of:

   obtain

   come into possession of
8. noun

   any of several small graceful hawks of the family Accipitridae having long pointed wings and feeding on insects and small animals
   types:

   Milvus migrans, black kite

   dark Old World kite feeding chiefly on carrion

   Elanoides forficatus, swallow-tailed hawk, swallow-tailed kite

   graceful North American black-and-white kite

   Elanus leucurus, white-tailed kite

   grey-and-white American kite of warm and tropical regions

   type of:

   hawk

   diurnal bird of prey typically having short rounded wings and a long tail