Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(US prison) a box used both for institutional correspondence and for passing on messages that accuse fellow inmates of illegal activity.

1957		Battle Creek Enquirer (MI) 3 Nov. 9/2: ‘Kite Box’ — A box with slotted top attached to a wall [...] Kites are notes to prison officials.
1992		Bentley & Corbett Prison Sl. 57: Snitch Box also Kite Box A box in which inmates put institutional correspondence. Often inmates use these boxes to deliver messages about illegal activities of other convicts.

(UK Und.) stealing mail containing bank cheques from homes and offices.

1925

E. Jervis 25 Years in Six Prisons 55: ‘Kite fishing,’ which is getting letters out of letter-boxes with a piece of bent wire or string covered with bird lime, used to be a favourite game.

a passer of dud cheques; used for any minor confidence trickster.

1830		Morning Courier and N.-Y. Enquirer 25 Mar. 2/1: Jem asks me what sort of money you give — I takes no checks or kite flyers, says he.
1839		Northern Liberator 14 Dec. 4/6: A splendid copany of enterprising schemers [...] paper-kite flyers, Massachussets moon-rakers.
1881		Dundee Courier (Scot.) 25 Mar, 7/4: It is not by any means necessary that the ‘kiteflyer’ should be possessed of a good education.
1927		‘Jargon of the Und.’ in DN V 433: The ‘kite-flier’ and the counterfeiter possess extensive technical vocabularies.
1932		Sun. Mail (Brisbane) 13 Nov. 20/7: Then there is the ‘Kite-flyer,’ the humbler confidence man, between whom and the higher members of this particular branch of crime stretches a long list of tricksters exploiting a host of ingenious schemes.
1936		Sunshine Advocate (Vic.) 11 Sept. 6/3: ‘Kite flyers’ are criminals who cash worthless cheques.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1961		(con. c.1950) R. Poole London E1 (2012) 15: The kite-flyers whose ink flowed too easily over other people’s cheque books.
1967		‘Whisper All Aussie Dict.’ in Kings Cross Whisper (Sydney) xxxv 6/3: kite flyer: One who specialises in passing dud cheques.
1983		R. Aven-Bray Ridgey-Didge Oz Jack Lang 33: Kite Flyer Casher of dud cheques.
1990		Tupper & Wortley Aus. Prison Sl. Gloss. 🌐 Kite flyer. Someone who spreads around worthless cheques.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 101/2: kite flier n. a person who passes false cheques.
2006		B. Matthews Intractable [ebook] The professional crims – the tank men and the kite flyers or paper hangers.

1. (also flying kites) raising money by persons colluding in the exchange of accommodation bills or cheques on different banks, in none of which they possess sufficient funds.

1823		‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc. 110: Kite-flying [...] In Ireland ‘flying the kite’ is employed to describe ‘raising the wind.’.
1833		Bell’s Life in London 5 May 4/1: Dick Coster did not confine himself to kite-flying alone.
1837		Morning Herald (N.Y.) 15 Aug. 2/4: Kite flying. [headline] — This term may not be directly understood by all our readers; it means in a commercial sense, that A. gives B. his promissory note; B. ditto to A. The two then negociate their paper, and the transaction is termed kite flying.
1848		Punch xivv 226: He never does a little discounting, nor lends his hand to flying kites [F&H].
1848		Bartlett Dict. Americanisms 195: kite flying. An expression well known to mercantile men of limited means, or who are short of cash. It is a combination between two persons, neither of whom has any funds in bank, to exchange each other’s checks, which may be deposited in lieu of money, taking good care to make their bank accounts good before their checks are presented for payment.
1853		G.J. Whyte-Melville Digby Grand (1890) 214: Bills, post-obits, and every species of ‘kite-flying’ known to spendthrifts and money-lenders.
1864		Birmingham Dly Post 20 Oct. 6/3: City slang comes up with ‘kite-flying’.
1870		Titusville (PA) Morning Herald 1 Apr. 1/5: Kite-flying. Expanding one’s credit beyond wholesome limits.
1881		Newcastle Courant 2 Sept. 6/5: Straight business being rather dull at the time, he thought he would go in for a little kite-flying.
1891		Licensed Victuallers’ Gazette 23 Jan. n.p.: Prince Alexis Soltykoff, who has been flying kites, and getting into trouble thereby, is the only son of Prince Soltykoff, the steward of the Jockey Club [F&H].
1894		G.A. Sala Things I Have Seen II 35: ‘Kite-flying,’ or, to use a less figurative term, dealing in accommodation bills, is a financial operation rapidly declining.

2. raising money by transferring accounts between banks and creating an illusory balance against which one cashes cheques.

1984

Partridge DSUE (8th edn) 650/2: from ca. 1830.

3. passing forged, stolen or unbacked cheques.

1956

‘Charles Raven’ Und. Nights 80: He began with a brief lecture on the graft of Kite-flying – i.e., forging and uttering cheques.

4. (US drugs) smoking crack cocaine.

1993

R. Shell Iced 71: As you can imagine this ‘business’ idea came to me while I was kite-flying with the pipe.

a criminal who specializes in cheque fraud.

1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 118/1: Kiteman. A passer of bad checks, or of checks backed by insufficient funds.
1956		‘Charles Raven’ Und. Nights 80: Any tealeaf may try his hand at adjusting the balance of a post office savings book in his favour but [...] the really expert forger, or kiteman, is a rare bird.
2004		(con. 1982) N. ‘Razor’ Smith A Few Kind Words and a Loaded Gun 275: I also did a bit of minding work for a team of female kite-merchants.

(UK Und.) a gang specializing in passing fraudulent cheques.

1938		F.D. Sharpe Sharpe of the Flying Squad 331: kite mob : A gang of forgers and letter-box thieves.
1941		V. Davis Phenomena in Crime 42: One of the most notorious [...] ‘kite mobs’ of cheque stealers and forgers.

1. (also fly the kite) to obtain credit against bills, whether or not the ‘paper’ is valid or fraudulent.

1805		Sporting Mag. XXV. 290/1: Flying a kite in Ireland is a metaphorical phrase for raising money on accommodation bills.
1833		H. Smith Gale Middleton 1 59: ‘They [i.e. bills of exchange] are drawn on the house of Hicks and Hoggins.’ ‘Don’t much like those chaps. Too many kites flying’.
1840		R. Barham ‘Aunt Fanny’ in Ingoldsby Legends (1842) 148: No doubt but he might / Without any great Flight, / Have obtain’d it by what we call ‘flying a kite’.
1848		J.R. Lowell Biglow Papers (1880) xxix: To delay attaching the bobs until the second attempt at flying the kite would indicate but a slender experience of that useful art .
1859		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. 41: flying the kite raising money on bills, whether good or bad, alluding to tossing paper about like children do a kite.
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1866		Letters by an Odd Boy 160: I am informed by a party, singularly unlike my notions preconceived of Æolus, that he is going to ‘raise the wind,’ and, perhaps, to ascertain whether the work or hour is favourable for ‘flying a kite.
1880		G.R. Sims ‘Little Worries’ Ballads of Babylon 152: You have a kite you cannot fly, And creditors are pressing.
1882		Sydney Sl. Dict. (2 edn) 4: Fly the Kite - To obtain money on bills, good or bad.
1883		E.C. Grenville-Murray People I Have Met 158: His wife, one of the better of the best society, had flown kites to the height of twenty-five thousand pounds.
1895		Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 30: Fly the Kite, raising money on good or bad bills.
1901		W.S. Walker In the Blood 143: ‘Solitary’s’ none too small for me. / I ‘fly a kite,’ or ‘bill,’ as ‘fence’ I show my skill.
1912		A. Train Courts, Criminals & the Camorra 126: The [detective] agencies know the face and record of practically every man who ever flew a bit of bad paper in the United States, in England, or on the Continent.
1948		P. Kavanagh Tarry Flynn (1965) 98: Here is none of your fly-the-kites, Mrs. Flynn [...] He doesn’t owe a penny piece to any man.

2. (Aus.) to escape via a window.

1882

Sydney Sl. Dict. (2 edn) 4: Fly the Kite - [...] To clear away by the window.

3. to raise money.

1914

Bulletin (Sydney) 12 Nov. 44/2: ‘By the way, how do you go about flying a kite?’ / ‘Do you not think it is possible some of your friends took your money and are keeping it till they hear from you?’.

4. to pass a dud cheque, ext. as fly a dodgy kite.

1895		C. Crowe Aus. Sl. Dict. 42: [F]lying kites, passing valueless cheques.
1906		O.C. Malvery Soul Market 290: To pass forged cheques or worthless ones is to ‘fly the kite’.
1922		N.Z. Truth 15 Apr. 6/2: Jack Smith, who had flown a ‘kite’ for £6 2s 6d [...] was admitted to probabtion for two years.
1925		N. Lucas Autobiog. of a Thief 158: I flew my first ‘kite’ at the Hotel Splendid; in other words, uttered my first worthless cheque.
1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 77: Flying A Kite. – Passing worthless cheques.
1962		R. Cook Crust on its Uppers 21: Flying dodgy kites with each other at bent spielers.
1977		D. Powis Signs of Crime 190: Kite Cheque: ‘Flying kites’ means encashing fraudlent cheques.
1983		R. Aven-Bray Ridgey-Didge Oz Jack Lang 28: Fly a Kite Cash a dud cheque.
1997		E. Little Another Day in Paradise 159: Why not just hit this lame, clear out his safe, and fly kites at his bank?
2001		(con. 1975–6) E. Little Steel Toes 134: You have about two days from the day you fly the first kite or money order from any one company.
2001		D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 71/2: fly a kite v. 1 to commit cheque fraud, to pass a false cheque.

5. (US prison) to smuggle a letter out of prison; also, as in cit. 1992, to pass letters within prison.

1923		J. Fishman Crucibles of Crime 203: The practice of ‘shooting’ contraband notes is known among the prisoners as ‘flying a kite’.
1935		J. Fishman Sex in Prison 93: A particularly friendly guard who will ‘fly kites’ (that is take out contraband letters which have not been inspected).
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).
1950		Goldin et al. DAUL 73/1: Fly a kite. (P) To smuggle a letter out of prison, evading censorship.
1962		Ragen & Finston World’s Toughest Prison 799: fly a kite – To send out an underground letter from prison.
1979		‘Iceberg Slim’ Airtight Willie and Me 10: Maybe I could fly a couple of my magnetized copping kites (high voltage letters) when I hit the bricks.
1989		J. Morton Lowspeak.
1992		Bentley & Corbett Prison Sl. 102: Sending a kite to someone is referred to as shoot him a kite or fly a kite to him.

6. (US) to send a letter.

1918		Jackson Dly News (MS) 1 Apr. 7/1: Crook Chatter [...] ‘Fresno Phil flew me a kite last week sayin’ they was a dozen raps against me for “throwin a hump” for him in St Louis’.
1942		D. Burley N.Y. Amsterdam Star-News 31 Jan. 16: The one about flying his banter a kite from out of his vest which the banter didn’t cop so he couldn’t back-cap.
1944		D. Burley Orig. Hbk of Harlem Jive 127: I flew you a kite when I crossed the Atlantic.
1971–2		C. Shafer ‘Catheads [...] and Cho-Cho Sticks’ in Abernethy Bounty of Texas (1990) 204: fly a kite, v. – to send a letter.
1972		B. Rodgers Queens’ Vernacular 157: When love is in bloom, contraband loveletters are passed between inmates. The ‘sending’ of such an epistle is flying a kite [pigeon].

7. (N.Z. prison) to pass on contraband by throwing it over the prison’s internal dividing fences.

2001

D. Looser Boobslang [U. Canterbury D.Phil. thesis] 71/2: fly a kite v. 2 to pass contraband from one unit to another by flicking it over the dividing fences.

see kite-flying

(UK Und.) sharp, perspicacious.

1865

Leaves from Diary of Celebrated Burglar 158/2: We ordered the cabby [...] to ‘lush’ with us, for he was a ‘flykite’ sort of a ‘cove,’ and it might be that hereafter we would find a use for him.

an airmail letter.

1943

D. Burley N.Y. Amsterdam Star-News 13 Mar. 13: I’m out here hustling and rustling [...] and along comes a kite with no string.

the enjoyment of extramarital pleasures by a husband.

1823

‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc. 110: Kite-flying—said of a truant husband, who makes away to the Jew’s-harp-fields, or those of Rushy-green, to ‘fly his kite’ or Kate.

(N.Z.) a close attachment, an ‘apron-string’.

1971

Listener (NZ) 22 Mar. 13: Get seen around with a good woman on your kite-string and no-one bothers you regardless [DNZE].

to have a full stomach.

1834		‘A Rum-Un to Look At’ in Libertine’s Songster in Spedding & Watt (eds) I 136: And her kite on ox cheek out I blow.
1837		‘The Wager’ in Ticklish Minstrel 7: He set himself down, pitched into the food [...] When he’d blown out his kite, he bade them good night.
1841		‘A Bit Of Prize Mutton’ in Gentleman Steeple-Chaser 40: My precious kite out, so nicely I will blow.
1868		‘Susan’s Sunday Out’ in My Young Wife and I Songster 24: She keeps me well in ‘pannun,’ that’s what makes me look so stout, / And don’t I just blow out my kite.
1909		J. Ware Passing Eng. of the Victorian Era.

1. constr. with at, to court, to pursue a woman.

1823

‘Jon Bee’ Dict. of the Turf, the Ring, the Chase, etc. 110: Kite-flying — said of a truant husband, who makes away [...] to ‘fly his kite’ or Kate.

2. to make public, to publicize.

1898

A. Hope Apr. in Ware (1909) 135/1: He would be very sorry to do entirely without the interview, and politicians were said to use it as a means of ‘flying the kite’.

3. (UK Und.) to write a letter to a receiver of stolen goods, prior to a robbery, to ascertain the value of the goods to be stolen.

1889

Clarkson & Richardson Police! 351: If they smell a job, they ‘fly a kite;’ that is, send a letter to the fence, who will ‘fly a stiff’ in reply, quoting a price for the ‘pewter,’ or plate. In this way the thieves get the swag off their hands immediately.

4. (US) to show off, to make a big display.

1899		C. Rook Hooligan Nights 135: I flew me kite pretty high for the first few days.
1908		‘Old Sleuth’ Dock Rats of N.Y. (2006) 101: ‘Sit down!’ commanded the detective. ‘My friend,’ Said Denman, ‘don’t fly your kite too high, your string may be cut.’ The smuggler spoke in a warning tone.
1963		J. Rechy City of Night 99: And oh my dear the kites I flew!
1989		C. Hiaasen Skin Tight 113: Tell Maggie to go fly her kite for Hugh Downs.

5. to present a false front or a deceitful line of talk in order to persuade one’s victim that one’s intentions are other than they really are.

1926		Maines & Grant Wise-crack Dict. 8/2: Fly a kite – meaning just that – but out of the presence of the suggester.
1962		B. Jackson Get Your Ass in the Water (1974) 201: Lookit here, Jack, I’m not flyin’ no more kites / and I’m not sayin’ this to bring on no fights.

6. to sound out public opinion, by taking initial steps in a given project or idea.

1998		I. Welsh Filth 269: Just fly up a wee kite to let them know who Ray Lennox is.
2003		McGill Reed Dict. of N.Z. Sl. 122: kite-flying Potential political policy presented to the public to test its acceptability. ANZ.

7. (Aus.) to lie.

1955

N. Pulliam I Travelled a Lonely Land (1957) 233/1: fly a kite – to tell a lie.

to toss excrement from a window.

1860		Hotten Dict. of Modern Sl. etc. (2nd edn).
1864, 1867, 1870		Hotten Sl. Dict.
1873		Sl. Dict.

(W.I.) to grumble, to make a fuss.

1941		cited in Cassidy & LePage Dict. Jam. Eng. (1980).
1983		T. White Catch a Fire 142: Why yuh muss raise a kite [cause a fuss], bwai?

(US) in a nervous/undecided state.

1903

Nebraska State Jrnl (Lincoln, NE) 14 June 9/5: Most of the dips, before they connect with the first one [i.e. a drink], are all up a kite about it.

pregnant.

1993		I. Welsh Trainspotting 125: Dode’s auld boy pulled intae Leith long enough tae git Na Na up the kite.
2018		I. Welsh Dead Man’s Trousers 139: She can’t be up the kite after the flunky burst.

a suggestion that an unwanted person should go away.

1905		A. Henry Unwritten Law 124: ‘We’re going to Coney to-morrow.’ ‘Who’s going?’ ‘The push.’ ‘Do I get a wheel?’ ‘Sure.’ ‘And Emma?’ ‘Go fly a kite’.
1913		Day Book (Chicago) 3 Oct. 21/1: Let the big corporation guys go fly a kite.
1917		R. Lardner ‘Three Kings and a Pair’ in Gullible’s Travels 70: They sing about what a fine mornin’ it is in Wop and she tells him he’d better fly his kite before Archibald catches him.
1922		in R. Butterfield Sat. Eve. Post Treasury (1954) 1 July 266: She told me to fly my kite! She’s off me!
1937		C. Pifer ‘Executioner’ in All-America Sports Mag. Jan. 🌐 There’s a colored girl outside says she wants to see Rufus.’ ‘Tell her to go fly a kite.’.
1940		N.Y. Post 3 Nov. 3: [headline] Go Fly A Kite.
1943		R.L. Bellem ‘Monster’s Malice’ Dan Turner – Hollywood Detective May 🌐 I felt like telling her to go fly a balloon.
1959		E. De Roo Young Wolves 113: ‘You got the appetite of a fly tonight.’ Roy didn’t answer. He wished she’d go fly a kite.
1989		H. Rawson Dict. of Invective (1991) 226: kite, go fly a (your). Go away, mind your own business, get off my back.
2002		(con. 1998–2000) J. Lerner You Got Nothing Coming 67: A written Inmate Request Form is called a kite for reasons that are clear to anyone who has ever been advised to ‘go fly a fucking kite’.