a man of my kidney

s.jack   Fri May 04, 2007 7:29 pm GMT
Please, what does "a man of my kidney" mean. It's from The merry wives of Windsor.
Dario   Fri May 04, 2007 8:33 pm GMT
In Shakespeare’s time "kidney" was synonymous with "temperament" or "one's constitution". This sense of the word goes way back to biblical times when the human kidneys figuratively represented temperament, emotions, prudence and wisdom within the human body. One passage mentions how the kidneys are the organs examined by God to judge an individual.

Hence, "a man of my kidney" refers to someone of similar temperament or constitution as oneself.