The transfer of meaning to the contents of a soldier's knapsack dates to the late 18th century, extended use of any collection of necessaries used for travelling dates to the first half of the 19th century.The further widening of the sense to a collection of parts sold for the buyer to assemble emerges in US English in the mid 20th century.
A kind ofbasket made especially from straw of rushes, especially for holding fish; by extension, the contents of such a basket or similar container, used as a measure of weight.
1961 18 Jan,Guardian (cited after OED):
He was pushing a barrow on the fish dock, wheeling aluminiumkits which, when full, each contain 10 stone of fish.
A collection of items forming theequipment of a soldier, carried in aknapsack.
Dudes! You simply have too much stuff in yourkit! But don't sweat it, I can buy some stuff you don't need.
Any collection of items needed for aspecificpurpose, especially for use by a workman, or personal effects packed for travelling.
Always carry a good first-aidkit.
A collection of parts sold for the buyer toassemble.
I built the entire car from akit.
(UK,sports) The standard set of clothing, accessories and equipment worn by players.
2011 November 10, Jeremy Wilson, “England Under 21 5 Iceland Under 21 0: match report”, inTelegraph[1]:
A sell-out crowd of 10,000 then observed perfectly a period of silence before the team revealed their black armbands, complete with stitched-in poppies, for the match. After Fifa’s about-turn, it must have been a frantic few days for the Englandkit manufacturer. The on-field challenge was altogether more straightforward.
1818,Reports, volume92, Great Britain. Parliament. House of Lords, page82:
Do you know the proportion between ten and twelve or thirteen? — No; I should suppose you may take the wholekit of them as thirty; and the rest are people at from twenty to forty years of age.
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A short form ofkitten and/orkitling. From the 16th century (spelledkytte,kitt).From the 19th century also extended to other young animals (mink, fox, beaver, muskrat, etc.), and to a species of small fox ("kit-fox"). Later usage (for other animals) perhaps influenced bychit.
1681,Nehemiah Grew,Musæum Regalis Societatis. Or A Catalogue & Description of the Natural and Artificial Rarities Belonging to the Royal Society and Preserved at Gresham Colledge.[…], London:[…] W. Rawlins, for the author,→OCLC:
Crane, Thera, Larry Hyman, Simon Nsielanga Tukumu (2011)A grammar of Nzadi[B.865]: a Bantu language of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press,→ISBN
