Our Cats and All About Them Part 19

_Cattish._--Having stealthy ways, slow and cautious in movements, watchful.

_Cat.w.a.ter._ (Plymouth).--"This is a remarkable instance of mistranslation. The castle at the mouth of the Plym used to be called the Chateau; but some one, thinking it would be better to Anglicise the French, divided the word into two parts: _chat_ (cat), _eau_ (water)."--BREWER'S _Dictionary of Phrase and Fable._

_Catwhin._--_Rosa spinosissima._ Burnet Rose is the name of the _plant_.

_Cat with two tails._--The earwig. _Northumberland_; Holloway.

_Gil cat._--A male cat; some say an old male. Nares says, an expression exactly a.n.a.logous to "Jack a.s.s;" the one being formerly called "Gil" or "Gilbert," as commonly as the other "Jack." "Tom cat" is now the usual term, and for a similar reason. "Tibert" is said to be the old French for "Gilbert." From "Tibert," "Tib," "Tibby," also was a common name for a cat. Wilkins, in his "Index to Philosophical Language," has "Gil"

(male) cat in the same way as a male cat is called a "Tom" cat. In some counties the c.o.c.k fowl is called a "Tom." It is unknown whence the origin of the latter term.

_Grimalkin._--Poetical name for a cat (Bailey). "Mawkin" signifies a hare in Scotland (Grose). In Suss.e.x a hare is often called "puss" or "p.u.s.s.y." "Puss" is also a common name for a cat.

_Grinagog, the cat's uncle._--A foolish, grinning fellow. One who grins without reason (Grose). In Norfolk, if one say "she," the reply is, "Who's 'she'? The cat's aunt?"

_Hang me in a bottle like a cat._--"BENEDICT. If I do, hang me in a bottle like a cat, and shoot at me, and he that hits me, let him be clapt on the shoulder and called Adam" (meaning Adam Bell, the famous archer).--_Much Ado About Nothing_, Act I.

A note in the "Percy Reliques," vol. i., 1812, states: "Bottles were formerly of leather, though perhaps a wooden bottle might be here meant.

It is still a diversion in Scotland (1812) to hang up a cat in a small cask or firkin, half filled with soot, and then a parcel of clowns on horseback try to beat out the ends of it, in order to show their dexterity in escaping before the contents fall on them."

From "Demandes Joyeuses" (amusing questions), 1511:

"_Q._ What is that that never was and never will be?

"_A._ A mouse nest in a cat's ear.

"_Q._ Why does a cat cross the road?

"_A._ Because it wants to get to the other side."

_Mrs. Evans._--"A local name for a she-cat, owing, it is said, to a witch of the name of Evans, who a.s.sumed the appearance of a cat."--GROSE.

_Nine lives like a cat._--"Cats, from their great suppleness and apt.i.tude to fall on their feet, are commonly said to have nine lives; hence Ben Jonson, in 'Every Man in His Humour,' says: "Tis a pity you had not ten lives--a cat's and your own.'"--THISELTON DYER'S _English Folk-lore._

"TYB. What wouldst thou have with me?

MER. Good king of cats, nothing but one of your nine lives."

_Romeo and Juliet_, III. I.

Middleton says in "Blurt Master Constable," 1602:

"They have nine lives apiece, like a woman."

_p.u.s.s.y cats._--Male blossom of the willow.

_Salt-cat_, or _salt-cate._--A mixture of salt, gravel, clay, old mortar, c.u.min seed, ginger, and other ingredients, in a pan, which is placed in pigeon lofts.

_Sick as a Cat._--Cats are subject to sickness or vomiting for the purpose of throwing up indigestible matter, such as the fur of mice, feathers of birds, which would otherwise collect and form b.a.l.l.s internally. For this reason they eat gra.s.s, which produces the desired effect; hence arises the phrase "as sick as a cat."

_Tabby._--"An old maid; either from Tabitha, a formal antiquated name, or else from a tabby cat; old maids, by the rude, weak-minded, and vulgar, being often compared to cats. 'To drive tab,' to go out on a party of pleasure with wife and family."--GROSE'S _Glossary._

"The neighbour's old cat often Came to pay us a visit; We made her a bow and courtesy, Each with a compliment in it.

After her health we asked, Our care and regard to evince; (We have made the very same speeches To many an old cat since)."

MRS. B. BROWNING (translation of "Heine").

_Tip-cat._--A pleasant game for those engaged in it; not so, too often, for others, medical reports of late tending to show that many cases of the loss of sight have occurred.

_To turn Cat in Pan._--This phrase has been a source of much contention, and many different derivations have been given; but all tend to show that it means a complete _turn over_, that is, to quit one side and go to the other, to turn traitor, to turncoat. "To turn cat in pan: _Praevaricor_" (Ainsworth). Bacon, in his Essays "On Cunning," p. 81, says: "There is a cunning which we in England call 'the turning of the cat in the pan,' which is when that a man says to another, 'he lays it as if another had said it to him.'" This is somewhat obscure in definition. Toone says: "The proverbial expression, 'to turn a cat in a pan,' denotes a sudden change in one's party, or politics, or religion, for the sake of being in the ascendant, as a cat always comes down on its legs, however thrown." The Vicar of Bray is quoted as simply a "turncoat," but this does _not_ affect the argument. I quite think, and in this others agree with me, that it has nothing to do with the _cat_, but was originally cate. In olden times, and until lately, it was the custom _to toss_ pancakes (to turn them over). It was no easy matter; frequently the _cake_ or _cate_ went in the fire or lodged in the chimney. To turn the cat or cate in the pan was to toss and _turn it completely over_, that is, from one side to the other. The meaning given to the phrase _helps to prove_ this view. I merely introduce this because so many have asked for an explanation as regards "the _cat_ in pan." I consider the "far-fetched" origins of the term are complete errors. It was a custom to toss pancakes on Shrove Tuesday, and it required great skill to do it well, cleanly, and completely. Some cooks were noted for it, and thought clever if it was done without injury to themselves or clothes.

It appears from "The Westmoreland Dialect," by A. Walker (1790), that c.o.c.k-fighting and "casting" of pancakes were then common in that county, thus: "Whaar ther wor tae be c.o.c.k-feightin', for it war pankeak Tuesday," and "we met sum lads an' la.s.ses gangin' to kest (cast) their pankeaks."

_To whip the cat._--"To practise the most pinching parsimony, grudging even the sc.r.a.ps and orts, or remnants of food given to the cat."--HOLLOWAY (_Norfolk_).

A phrase applied to the village tailor going round from house to house for work.

"To be drunk."--HEYWOOD'S _Philoconothista_, 1635, p. 60.

An itinerant parson is said to "whip the cat."

"A trick practised on ignorant country fellows, vain of their strength, by laying a wager with them that they may be pulled through a pond by a cat. The bet being made, a rope is fixed round the waist of the party to be catted, and the end thrown across the pond, to which the cat is also fastened by a pack-thread, and three or four st.u.r.dy fellows are appointed to lead and 'whip the cat.' These, on a signal being given, seize the end of the cord, and, pretending to whip the cat, haul the astonished b.o.o.by through the water."--GROSE, 1785.

The following are culled from the well-known and useful book, Jamieson's "Scottish Dictionary":

_Cat._--A small bit of rag, rolled up and put between the handle of a pot and the hook which suspends it over the fire, to raise it a little.--_Roxb._

_Cat._--A handful of straw, with or without corn upon it, or of reaped grain, laid on the ground by the reaper without being put into a sheaf (_Roxb., Dumfr._). Perhaps from the Belg. word _katt-en_, to throw, the handful of corn being cast on the ground; whence _kat_, a small anchor.

_Cat._--The name given to a bit of wood, a horn, or anything which is struck in place of a ball in certain games.

_To Cat a Chimney._--To enclose a vent by the process called _Cat and Clay_ (_Teviotd._).

_Cat and Clay._--The materials of which a mud wall is constructed in many parts of S. Straw and clay are well wrought together, and being formed into pretty large rolls, are laid between the different wooden posts by means of which the wall is formed, and carefully pressed down so as to incorporate with each other, or with the twigs that are sometimes plaited from one post to another (_S._).

_Cat and Dog._--The name of an ancient sport (_S._). It seems to be an early form of _Cricket._ (Query, is this the same as Cat and Trap?)

_Catband._--1. The name given to the strong hook used on the inside of a door or gate, which, being fixed to the wall, keeps it shut. 2. A chain drawn across a street for defence in time of war. Germ., _kette_, a chain, and _band_.

_Cat-fish, Sea-cat._--The sea-wolf (_S._). _Anarhicas lupus_ (LINN.) Sw., _haf-cat_--_i.e._ sea-cat.--SIBBALD.

_Cat-gut._--Thread fucus, or sea laces. _Fucus filum_ (LINN.), _Orkney_, "Neill's Tour."

_Cat-Harrow._--"_They draw the Cat-Harrow_"--that is, they thwart one another.--_Loth. Ang._, LYNDSEY.