kite

Concise Oxford English Dictionary © 2008 Oxford University Press:
kite/kʌɪt/

▶noun

• 1 a toy consisting of a light frame with thin material stretched over it, flown in the wind at the end of a long string.

  ■ Brit. informal, dated an aircraft.

• 2 a long-winged bird of prey with a forked tail, which frequently soars on updraughts of air. [Milvus milvus (red kite) and other species.]

• 3 Geometry a quadrilateral figure having two pairs of equal adjacent sides, symmetrical only about one diagonal.

• 4 informal a fraudulent cheque, bill, or receipt.

  ■ an illicit or surreptitious letter.

  ■ archaic a dishonest person.

• 5 Sailing, informal a spinnaker.

▶verb

• 1 (usu. as noun kiting) fly a kite.

  ■ fly; move quickly.

• 2 N. Amer. informal write or use (a fraudulent cheque, bill, or receipt).

– phrases
(as) high as a kite informal intoxicated with drugs or alcohol.

– origin OE cȳta (in sense 2 of the noun); prob. of imitative origin.