kettling

K5E1T1T1L1I1N1G2

noun

A crowd control technique, used by police, where a hostile group of protesters or rioters are surrounded and not allowed to disperse, sometimes with the use of temporary fencing to corral and isolate portions of the group.

Scrabble 13

Meanings

nounkettling (usually uncountable, plural kettlings)

plural kettlings

  1. uncountableusuallyA crowd control technique, used by police, where a hostile group of protesters or rioters are surrounded and not allowed to disperse, sometimes with the use of temporary fencing to corral and isolate portions of the group.

    These are our young, screaming out in need, meriting not kettling and reprimands, but job prospects and dignity.

    2011 October 12, Gregory Djerejian, “This Ain't No Tea Party: A Conservative Defense of Occupy Wall Street”, in The Atlantic
  2. uncountableusuallyThe situation where water gets trapped in the heat exchanger of a boiler (e.g. due to limescale build-up), resulting in knocking sounds as it turns into expanding steam.
verb
  1. gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of kettle

Translations

French nasse
  • nassecrowd control technique
German Polizeikessel
  • Polizeikesselcrowd control technique
Cite this entry
APA

kettling. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kettling

MLA

“kettling.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kettling. Accessed November 4, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “kettling,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kettling.

Source: kettling on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.