755
Karachi
regarded as dying a hero's death in the service of their
country. 2 an aircraft carrying explosives, used in such an
K,k
K, k /keɪ/ pl. K's, k's n [C,U] the 11th letter of the English
alphabet
K also k 1 infml abbrev. for one thousand,: salary of £30k a
year 2 abbrev. for kilobyte, or kilobytes; 3 also k abbrev. for
kilometre, or kilometres; a 20k international race
walker 4 abbrev. for kelvin or kelvins
kaa·ba /'ka:bə/ a small stone building in the court of the
Great Mosque at Mecca. It contains a special black stone
Ka·ba·la /kə'bɑ:lə/ n [U] the CABALA
which Muslims believe to be holy, and which they turn to
when they pray.
ka·bob /kə'bɒb/ n AmE for KEBAB
Ka·bul /'kɑ:bul/ the capital city of Afghanistan
kad·dish /'kædɪʃ||'ka:-/ n pl. -shim /-dɪʃm/ [C,U] (often cap.) a
prayer in praise of God, said in Jewish religious services and
also by Jewish people when a member of the family has
died: saying Kaddish for their father
kaf·fir /'kæfər/ n SAfrE taboo a very offensive word for a black
African, used only by white people
Kaf·ka, Franz /'kæfkə||'kaf-, frænts||fra:nts/ (1883-1924) a
Czech writer who wrote in German, known for his novels
such as The Trial and The Castle, and his short stories such as
Metamorphosis, in which a man turns into a large and ugly
insect. His stories deal with the struggle of ordinary people on
their own against the state or large organizations. The word
kaf·tan /'kæftən||kæf'tæn/ n a CAFTAN
Kafkaesque is used to describe this type of experience, in
Kah·lo, Frida /'kɑ:ləu, 'fri:də/ (1907-1954) a famous Mexi-
which you feel that no one understands you and there is no
can painter, who was married for a time to another painter,
way of escaping from an unpleasant situation.
Diego Rivera. She is known for supporting Communism and
kail /keɪl/ n KALE
for having an AFFAIR with Leon Trotsky.
Kai·ser, the /'kaɪzər/ n Wilhelm II, the King of Germany
from 1888 to 1918. He was given the NICKNAME 'Kaiser Bill'
by the British in World War I.
Kal·a·ha·ri Desert, the /,kæləhɑ:ri 'dezət||-zərt/ also
the Kalahari /,kælə'hɑ:ri/ a large desert in southern
Africa
ka·lam /kə'lɑ:m/ n [U] a school of Islamic religious belief
Ka·lash·ni·kov /kə'læʃnkɒf||-kɔ:f/ n a type of quick-firing
RIFLE (=long gun) made in the former Soviet Union. Kalash-
nikovs have been sold all over the world, especially in many
kale, kail /keɪl/ n [C,U] a dark green CABBAGE (=type of
poorer countries, and they are often used by TERRORISTS and
vegetable) with curled leaves
ka·lei·do·scope /kə'laɪdəskəup/ n 1 a tube with mirrors
anti-government armed groups.
and pieces of coloured glass fitted inside at one end which
shows many-coloured patterns when turned 2 a pattern or
scene that has many different bright colours or details, often
changing: the fairground was a kaleidoscope of colour 1 (fig.)
ka·lei·do·scop·ic /kə,laɪdə'skɒpk||-'ska:-/ adj (especially
the kaleidoscope of European history
of scenes and bright colours) changing quickly and often
kal·ends, the /'kælendz/ n the first day of ancient Roman
→ally /kli/ adv
months
Ka·li /'kɑ:li/ in Hindu MYTHOLOGY, a goddess of death and
destruction
Ka·ma Su·tra, the /,kɑ:mə 'su:trə/ an ancient Hindu
book about sex and love, known especially for the many
kam·i·ka·ze¹ /,kæmɪ'kɑ:ziə/ n 1 one of a group of Japanese
positions it describes for sexual acts
pilots (in World War II) who deliberately crashed on a mili-
tary or naval TARGET killing themselves as well as damaging
the building, ship etc attacked. Kamikaze pilots were
attack
kamikaze² adj [A no comp.] 1 of or being a kamikaze: a
kamikaze pilot 2 seeming to take no care to protect one's
own life: a kamikaze driver
kam·ma /'kɑ:mə/ n KARMA
Kam·pa·la /kæm'pɑ:lə||kæm-/ the capital city of Uganda,
near Lake Victoria
Kam·pu·che·a /,kæmpu'tʃiə/ a former name of CAMBODIA,
a country in southeast Asia. This name is connected especially
with POL POT, the Communist leader of the KHMER ROUGE,
who was responsible for the killing of millions of people
when he was in power from 1975 to 1979.
Kan·chen·jun·ga /,kæntʃən'dʒuŋə||,kæn-/ one of the
world's highest mountains, on the border between India and
Kan·da·har, Qandahar /,kændə'hɑ:r:/ a city in southern
Nepal
Afghanistan. It is the second largest city in the country and
was considered by the Taliban to be their SPIRITUAL home.
kan·ga /'kæŋgə/ n a woman's dress of African origin, consist-
ing of a length of cloth wound round the body
kan·ga·roo /,kæŋgə'ru:/ n
pl. -roos, or -roo an Austral-
ian animal which jumps
along on its large back legs
,kangaroo 'court n derog an
and which carries its young
unofficial court established
in a POUCH (=a special
by some members of a group
kangaroo
pocket of flesh)
to examine and usually to
punish other members of
the same group: The factory
Kan·sas /'kænzəs/ written abbrev. KS 1 a state in the GREAT
workers had set up/held a
PLAINS area of the central US, known especially for produc-
kangaroo court to try the men who'd refused to support the
ing large amounts of wheat 2 we're not in Kansas any
strike.
more especially AmE a line from the film The Wizard of Oz,
,Kansas 'City written abbrev. KC 1 a city and port in west
which people sometimes use humorously when they are in a
Missouri, USA 2 a city and port in northeast Kansas, USA
strange or difficult situation
When people in the US mention Kansas
CULTURAL NOTE
City, they usually mean the city in Missouri.
Kant, Im·man·u·el /,kænt||ka:nt, I'mænjual/ (1724-1804) a
German PHILOSOPHER who believed that moral decisions
must be based on reason, and who wrote books about the
ka·o·lin /'keɪəlɪn/ n [U] a fine white clay used for making
existence of God and about how we understand the world.
cups, plates etc, and also in medicine
His most important book is the Critique of Pure Reason. His
Kap·i·tal, Das /dæs ,kæpɪ'ta:l/ (1867) a book by Karl MARX
works had great influence on 19th century philosophy.
in which Marx explains his ideas about the CLASS STRUGGLE
and about the way that CAPITALISM works. It is the most
ka·pok /'keɪpɒk||'pa:k/ n [U] a very light cotton-like material
important book of MARXIST economics, and it had a great
used for filling soft things such as CUSHIONS
influence on the development of Communism.
Ka·poor, An·ish /kə'pʊər, 'a:nɪʃ/ (1954-) an Indian SCULP-
TOR (=artist who makes objects out of stone, wood, clay etc)
who lives and works in London. He is known especially for
Ka·po·si's sar·com·a /,kə,pəuziz sa:'kəʊmə||-sɑ:r-/ n [U]
his very large SCULPTURES, including one called Marsyas
a type of CANCER which people with AIDS often suffer from.
which was made of three very large steel rings joined
ka·put /kə'put/ adj [F] slang broken; no longer able to be used:
It causes wounds on the skin called LESIONS.
together by a single piece of material. It was over 150 metres
The TV's kaput.
long.
Ka·ra·chi /kə'rɑ:tʃi/ a city in southern Pakistan, formerly
the capital and still the main port and industrial centre