kettle
part of speech
noun (a kettle, kettles)
meaning for a pupil
A container with a lid, a handle and a spout, used for boiling water. tree →
sense in the lessons
In everyday life, kettles boil water for tea, hot chocolate and cooking; electric kettles switch off when the water boils. In science, the steam from a kettle shows water changing from liquid to gas at 100 degrees Celsius. In safety lessons, children learn that kettles, steam and hot water can cause bad burns; keep the cord away from the edge. Phrases: put the kettle on, boil the kettle, electric kettle, a different kettle of fish.
examples
- Mum put the kettle on for tea. tree →
- The kettle whistled when the water boiled. tree →
- Steam came out of the kettle's spout. tree →
- Never touch a hot kettle. tree →
- Keep the kettle cord away from the counter edge. tree →
- Water boils at 100 degrees Celsius. tree →
- That's a different kettle of fish. tree →
- But something was the matter with the kettle. tree →
note
Countable. Double t: k-e-t-t-l-e. "Put the kettle on" is a very common phrase in the UK, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand meaning "let's make a hot drink". Safety: steam burns too; if you get a burn, cool it under cool running water for 20 minutes and tell an adult. "A different kettle of fish" means a different matter.
In the corpora
- Unplug a kettle before filling it, fill it only to the line and keep its cord away from the edge.
- Many of them have a clever little switch that decides when to stop, like the click you hear when the kettle has boiled.
- The white crust inside a kettle is limescale, minerals left behind from hard water.
- Things that heat, like kettles, ovens and heaters, use far more electricity than a phone charger or an LED bulb.
- Things that make heat, like kettles and heaters, use a lot of electricity.
Trees and pragmatics
Every meaning and example of «kettle» parsed by Mova, each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.