kennel

¹ American  

[ken-l] / ˈkɛn l /

noun

1. a house or shelter for a dog or a cat.

2. Often kennels an establishment where dogs or cats are bred, raised, trained, or boarded.

3. the hole or lair of an animal, especially a fox.

4. a wretched abode likened to a doghouse.

5. Rare. a pack of dogs, especially hunting dogs.

   He inherited his love of quail hunting from his father who'd gifted him a kennel of pointers.

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verb (used with object)

kenneled, kenneling, kennelled, kennelling

1. to put into or keep in a kennel.

   to kennel a dog for a week.

verb (used without object)

kenneled, kenneling, kennelled, kennelling

1. to take shelter or lodge in a kennel.

kennel ² American  

[ken-l] / ˈkɛn l /

noun

1. an open drain or sewer; gutter.

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kennel ¹ British  

/ ˈkɛnəl /

noun

1. US name: doghouse.  a hutlike shelter for a dog

2. (usually plural) an establishment where dogs are bred, trained, boarded, etc

3. the lair of a fox or other animal

4. a ramshackle house; hovel

5. a pack of hounds

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verb

1. to put or go into a kennel; keep or stay in a kennel

kennel ² British  

/ ˈkɛnəl /

noun

1. archaic an open sewer or street gutter

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Etymology

Origin of kennel¹

First recorded in 1300–50; Middle English kenel, from unattested Anglo-French kenil ( French chenil) from unattested Vulgar Latin canīle ( Latin can(is) “dog” + -īle suffix of place)

Origin of kennel²

First recorded in 1575–85; variant of earlier cannel, Middle English canel channel ¹

Example Sentences

Panorama was given rare access to one of the private specialist kennels now regularly used to hold these dogs since XL bully bans were introduced across the UK in 2024.

From BBC

The newspaper describes her as a "dog breeder and horse lover" who ran Croft Farm, a boarding kennels in the village Thorpe in Balne.

From BBC

Rebecca Harvey's two spaniels, Clover and Flora, disappeared from their kennels in her family's garden in Little Maplestead in Essex on 30 October 2017.

From BBC

Rob Holder, general manager at Clumber Park, said while the origins of the Clumber spaniel were not clear, they may have come from a kennel of prized spaniels gifted to the 2nd Duke.

From BBC

The meat smell draws them like flies, and we frequently have two or three around the kennel at the same time.

From Literature

Related Words

• enclosure