Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. nonsense, rubbish; usu. as no kid, I am not telling a lie.

1850		‘Epistle from Joe Muggins’s Dog’ in Era (London) 13 Oct. 4/3: ‘Wat’s been tork’d about?’ praps you’ll say. ‘Lots,’ I anser; but more nor harf of it kid, bless yer; ‘kid, bless yer’ [...] and how it is sum of ther chaps doan’t get choked with ther awful ‘whoppers’ they tells, is a misterry to me.
1895		Truth (Sydney) 28 Apr. 3/3: Mr Reid [...] blandly replied that he never read Truth (Cries of ‘Kid,’ ‘Dicken,’ ‘Guiver,’ etc).
1904		Sun. Times (Perth) 11 Dec. 4/8: She was readin a penny novel but it was all kid as most of the time she had it up side down.
1905		H. Green Actors’ Boarding House (1906) 8: Baby, I love you Honest Injun, that’s no kid.
1918		C.J. Dennis ‘Jim’s Girl’ in Digger Smith 66: I knoo ’is question was jist kid.

2. (UK Und.) persuasive talk, aimed at effecting a confidence trick, interrogating a prisoner, etc.

1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 6/1: She was very good-looking, and would often ‘pick up’ a ‘flat’ who would not ‘stand’ the ‘kid’ of more experienced ‘molls’.
1870		Sportsman (London) 17 Mar. 2/1: The gentlemen who have been successfully practising this bit of ‘kid’ have, however, been stopped, and now stand committed for trial on the charge of demanding money by means of a forged instrument.
1891		Sporting Times 7 Mar. 1/3: But the knight of the pencil was wide awake, / And was not to be had by ‘kid’.
1896		Ade Artie (1963) 7: The whole thing! That ain’t no kid.
1905		Sporting Times 4 Feb. 1/2: It’s only a bit more of his ‘kid’. He wants to give them the idea that he’s in hot water.
1907		Sun. Times (Perth) 2 June 4/8: So I slung the bloke wot sent us ’ere some kid.

3. (also kid-on) teasing, mockery, chaff.

1865		Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 114/2: Joe’s ‘kid’ produced a roaring laugh from those around the table.
1876		C. Hindley Life and Adventures of a Cheap Jack 111: He was one of the rarest chaps at ‘kid,’ i.e., gammon, out.
1885		Bulletin (Sydney) 24 Jan. 7/2: And even when your speech – this is no ‘kid’ – / Did not go down, the champagne always did.
1894		A. Morrison Tales of Mean Streets (1983) 136: The orator did not take kindly to the proposal at first, strongly suspecting something in the nature of ‘guy’ or ‘kid’.
1895		Truth (Sydney) 3 Feb. 3/6: No kid and no booze, Jemmy.
1896		Ade Artie (1963) 59: I made a speech, just for a kid, you know, but it started ’em.
1907		Harrington & LeBrunn [perf. Marie Lloyd] Who are you getting at, eh? 🎵 I said, ‘Chuck it, I want none of your kid’.
1908		H. Green Maison De Shine 54: Put the gun down, it’s only a kid!
1913–14		Van Loan ‘Out of His Class’ in Taking the Count 183: ‘Ah-h, quit kidin’!’ ‘You think it’s a kid?’.
c.1921		T. Norman Penny Showman 49: I should have told them a tale, [...] given them a bit of kid.
1975		E. Torres Carlito’s Way 64: Rivas decided to aim the kid at us.
1980		Maledicta IV:2 (Winter) 228: ‘The best kids,’ wrote Edmund Wilson of camp comments, are ‘so darn close to insults.’.
1996		A. Close Official and Doubtful 90: Cal doesn’t smile. ‘It’s obviously a kid-on.’.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 238: You’re as full of kid as a pregnant goat You are a great teaser.

4. (Aus.) excessive praise.

1900–10

Stephens & O’Brien Materials for a Dict. of Aus. Sl. [unpub. ms.] 160: TOKO slang praise, flattery, blarney, synonymous with slang ‘kid, ‘kokum,’ ‘taffy.’.

5. a teaser.

1922

E. Dyson Missing Link 🌐 Ch. i: His Christian name was Nicholas but his familiars called him Nickie the Kid. [...] Kid was short for ‘kidder’.

6. (Aus.) the victim of a hoax or trick.

1900

Sydney Sportsman (Surry Hills, NSW) 21 Nov. 1/3: It is unknown [...] how long Kelly’s kid remained on the form ‘waiting for the office’.