kiddle
/ˈkɪd(ə)l
/noun
1A dam or other barrier in a river, with an opening fitted with nets to catch fish.A tenant of the manor had unlicensed oyster pits in the marsh and illegal kiddles in Roman river in 1506....
- Also a Weir in a river formed for the trapping of fish was termed in Saxon times a kiddle or kettle.
1.1An arrangement of fishing nets hung on stakes along the seashore to catch fish.The former environments were characterised by the grazing of large sheep flocks, producing wool for export and for the local cloth industries of Kent and Essex, by salt-making and by fishing using large ‘kiddles’ or fish-traps....
- Royal officers had the perquisite to trap fish in kiddles, but poachers often raided the traps of fish, frequently destroying the kiddles in the process.
Origin
Middle English: from Old French quidel.