Meanings
plural kettlings
- 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 - 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.
- gerundparticiplepresentpresent participle and gerund of kettle
Translations
French nasse
- nassecrowd control technique
German Polizeikessel
- Polizeikesselcrowd control technique
Cite this entry
kettling. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 4, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kettling
“kettling.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kettling. Accessed November 4, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “kettling,” accessed November 4, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/kettling.
Source: kettling on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.