kitchen sink

Meanings

1. A sink in a kitchen used for washing crockery, cutlery, utensils, food, etc., and disposing of waste.
2. A miscellaneous item or a miscellany, especially exemplifying an indiscriminate profusion.
3. In chained or tied to the kitchen sink, etc.: domestic chores or housework, especially when regarded as menial and tedious.
4. A thing regarded as defiled due to corruption, immorality, etc.

1. Of or pertaining to a mid-20th-century realist style of painting in Britain characterized by scenes of dull or untidy domestic interiors such as kitchens in the homes of urban working-class people; also, of or pertaining to an artist or group of artists painting in this style.
2. Of or pertaining to a mid-20th-century (especially 1950s–1960s) genre of drama, fiction, etc., in Britain depicting the harsh lives of working-class people; also, of or pertaining to a film, novel, play, etc., of this genre.

1. To make (something) overly complicated or elaborate; to overcomplicate, to overwork.
2. To raise to (someone) unrelated complaints and other matters during an argument.
3. To release (a large amount of information about the poor financial results of a company) in one go, in the hope that there will be less impact.
4. To raise unrelated complaints and other matters during an argument.

Etymology

The noun is derived from kitchen + sink. Sense 2.1 (“miscellaneous item or miscellany”) is probably from everything but the kitchen sink. The adjective is derived from the noun. Sense 1 (“of or pertaining to a realist style of painting characterized by scenes of dull or untidy domestic interiors of urban working-class people”) was coined by the British art critic David Sylvester (1924–2001) in a December 1954 article entitled “The Kitchen Sink”: see the quotation. The verb is a back-formation from kitchen-sinking (noun), which is derived from the noun.

Translations