the.com/kite
a leash for the wind, held by anyone brave enough to argue with the sky
means A light frame covered in fabric or paper that flies on the end of a string when the wind catches it — and, by extension, a check written against funds that aren't there yet.
from From Old English 'cyta,' the name of a graceful, hovering bird of prey — the kite that hangs almost motionless in the wind. When people built a flying toy that did the same, they borrowed the bird's name for it. The financial sense ('to kite a check') is a much later cousin, picturing money that floats and dangles in the air much as the toy does — value held aloft by nothing but optimism and string.
- first flight
- Chinese kites flew over 2,000 years ago
- war machine
- armies used kites for signaling and measuring distances
- birth of flight
- the Wright brothers tested wing ideas on kites
- lightning bait
- Franklin's kite caught a storm's electric signature
- record holder
- a kite once flew over 16,000 feet high
rokkaku — japanese rectangular fighting kite with bamboo frame, used in kite battles for centuries
indian paper kite — glass-coated string kite flown during makar sankranti festival across india with competitive kite fighting
fighter kite kabul — afghan traditional kite sport where fliers compete in kabul with manja-coated string to cut opponents' kites
brazilian arraia — large diamond-shaped kite from brazil made with paper and bamboo, flown during school holidays