Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (orig. US) younger, e.g. kid brother.

1896		Ade Artie 85: There was a kid cousin of mine.
1922		S.V. Benét Young People’s Pride 139: Winslow’s got a kid cousin he wants to put in here.
1935		(con. 1920s) J.T. Farrell Judgement Day in Studs Lonigan (1936) 662: His kid brother had even cleaned up on him.
1949		J.T. Farrell ‘Slouch’ in Amer. Dream Girl (1950) 104: I took my kid brother along.
1952		J. Jones From Here to Eternity (1998) 150: If I dint know my father was never out of Brooklyn in his life, I’d lay you money you was my kid brother.
1960		E. De Roo Big Rumble 7: He pushed Donald behind himself. That’s where he wanted his kid brother to be.
1979		F. Norman Too Many Crooks Spoil the Caper 168: Me kid bruvva, the boys an’ me was gonna look in on yuh later.
1989		M. Amis London Fields 41: I met her kid sister, Lizzyboo.
1998		D. Hecht Skull Session 269: He’d heard about the abandoned house from his kid brother.

2. (orig. US) pertaining to, or fit for children, as in kid stuff n.

1907		S.E. White Arizona Nights 20: I had a kid outfit of h’ar bridle, lots of silver and such.
1908		J. Gunn We of the Never-Never (1962) 106: He calls the first two hundred miles of his trip a ‘kid’s game’.
1911		S. Ford Torchy 167: This is a kid session and the graft will be light.
1920		C. Sandburg letter 12 July in Mitgang (1968) 188: I want to finish a book of kid stories.
1927		S. Graham N.Y. Nights 33: ‘Good kid stuff, don’t you think?’ enquires Dickerman, admiring his own artifice. ‘All this appeals to the everlasting boy in the grown man.’.
1928		J. Callahan Man’s Grim Justice 16: Ha [...] a couple of kid burglars.
1934		(con. 1920s) J.T. Farrell Young Manhood in Studs Lonigan (1936) 155: Then all his troubles about school would be forgotten kid worries.
1935		(con. 1920s) J.T. Farrell Judgement Day in Studs Lonigan (1936) 467: Since his kid days, there had been many years.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn) 138: kid pen A reformatory.
1952		I, Mobster 7: Back in those days it was Cherry Nose Petrucci who headed up the kid mob in the neighbourhood.
1959		A. Zugsmith Beat Generation 71: That was another kid stunt I regret.
1967		P. Thomas Down These Mean Streets (1970) 120: Why couldn’t I just laugh it off with that simple-ass kid rhyme: Sticks and stones may break my bones, / But words will never harm me.
1977		T. Berger Who is Teddy Villanova? 239: Saturday morning kid-cartoon.
1983		C. Heath A-Team 2 (1984) 164: Can we cut the kid crap, guys?
1987		(con. 1968) Bunch & Cole Reckoning for Kings (1989) 279: I fucked up. Kid shit, you know.
1998		J. O’Connor Salesman 88: I used to knock about with her a bit years ago. It was only a kids’ thing.

3. (US) childish.

1900		A.H. Lewis ‘Mollie Matches’ in Sandburrs 48: She don’t give me none d’ best of it when I’m wit’ er, an’ I’m glad, in a kid fashion, when she gets put away.
1956		H. Gold Man Who Was Not With It (1965) 93: Please, Andy boy, you don’t have to be kid. Be nice and pour it on.
1958		(con. 1945) F. Davis Spearhead 19: That kid platoon leader?
1994		A. Duff State Ward 5: His high-school uniform made him feel so young. So kid-like.