Till Ketch observing he was chous’d,
      And in his profits much abus’d. 
      In open hall the tribute dunn’d,
      To do his office, or refund.

  Mr. Ketch had not long been elevated to his office, for the
  name of his predecessor Dun occurs in the former part of
  this poem, page 29: 

      For you yourself to act squire Dun,
      Such ignominy ne’er saw the sun.

The addition of ‘squire,’ with which Mr. Dun is here dignified, is a mark that he had beheaded some state criminal for high treason; an operation which, according to custom for time out of mind, has always entitled the operator to that distinction.  The predecessor of Dun was Gregory Brandon, from whom the gallows was called the Gregorian tree, by which name it is mentioned in the prologue to Mercurius Pragmaticus, tragi-comedy acted at Paris, &c. 1641: 

      This trembles under the black rod, and he
      Doth fear his fate from the Gregorian tree.

  Gregory Brandon succeeded Derrick.  See Derrick.

KETTLEDRUMS. Cupid’s kettle drums; a woman’s breasts,
  called by sailors chest and bedding.

Kettle of fish.  When a person has perplexed his affairs
  in general, or any particular business, he is said to have
  made a fine kettle of fish of it.

Kicks.  Breeches.  A high kick; the top of the fashion.  It
  is all the kick; it is the present mode.  Tip us your kicks,
  we’ll have them as well as your lour; pull off your breeches,
  for we must have them as well as your money.  A kick;
  sixpence.  Two and a kick; half-a-crown.  A kick in the
  guts; a dram of gin, or any other spirituous liquor.  A
  kick up; a disturbance, also a hop or dance.  An odd kick
  in one’s gallop; a strange whim or peculiarity.

To kick the bucket.  To die.  He kicked the bucket
  one day:  he died one day.  To kick the clouds before the
  hotel door; i.e. to be hanged.

KICKERAPOO.  Dead.  Negro word.

KICKSEYS.  Breeches.

Kickshaws.  French dishes:  corruption of quelque chose.

Kid.  A little dapper fellow.  A child.  The blowen has
  napped the kid.  The girl is with child.

To kid.  To coax or wheedle.  To inveigle.  To amuse a
  man or divert his attention while another robs him.  The
  sneaksman kidded the cove of the ken, while his pall
  frisked the panney; the thief amused the master of the house,
  while his companion robbed the house.

Kid lay.  Rogues who make it their business to defraud
  young apprentices, or errand-boys, of goods committed to
  their charge, by prevailing on them to execute some trifling
  message, pretending to take care of their parcels till they
  come back; these are, in cant terms, said to be on the
  kid lay.