grimalkin

From grey + malkin; literally "grey-haired cat" or "grey-haired woman".

• (Received Pronunciation, US) IPA^(key): /ɡɹɪˈmæl.kɪn/, /ɡɹɪˈmɔːl.kɪn/

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grimalkin (plural grimalkins)

1. A cat, especially an elderly female.
   • 1553, William Baldwin, Beware the Cat:

     Servant:..."Commend me unto Titton Tatton and to Puss thy Catton, and tell her that Grimalkin is dead.".

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, “Containing One of the Most Bloody Battles, or rather Duels, that were ever Recorded in Domestic History”, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume I, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book II, page 102:

     As fair Grimalkin, who, though the youngeſt of the Feline Family, degenerates not in Feroſity from the elder Branches of her Houſe, and though inferior in Strength, is equal in Fierceneſs to the noble Tyger himſelf, when a little Mouſe, whom it hath long tormented in Sport, eſcapes from her Clutches for a while, frets, ſcolds, growls, ſwears; but if the Trunk, or Box, behind which the Mouſe lay hid, be again removed, ſhe flies like Lightning on her Prey, and, with envenomed Wrath, bites, ſcratches, mumbles, and tears the little Animal.

   • 1749, Henry Fielding, “In which, tho’ the Squire doth not Find His Daughter, Something is Found which Puts an End to His Pursuit”, in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, volume IV, London: A[ndrew] Millar, […], →OCLC, book XII, pages 198–199:

     Thus Fable reports, that the fair Grimalkin, whom Venus, at the Deſire of a paſſionate Lover, converted from a Cat into a fine Woman, no ſooner perceived a Mouſe than, mindful of her former Sport, and ſtill retaining her priſtine Nature, ſhe leaped from the Bed of her Huſband to purſue the little Animal.

   • 1835, [Washington Irving], “Abbotsford”, in Abbotsford and Newstead Abbey (The Crayon Miscellany; no. 2), Philadelphia, Pa.: [Henry Charles] Carey, [Isaac] Lea, & Blanchard, →OCLC, page 32:

     Among the other important and privileged members of the household who figured in attendance at the dinner, was a large gray cat, who, I observed, was regaled from time to time with tit bits from the table. This sage grimalkin was a favourite of both master and mistress, and slept at night in their room; […]

   • 1847 December, Ellis Bell [pseudonym; Emily Brontë], chapter III, in Wuthering Heights: […], volume I, London: Thomas Cautley Newby, […], →OCLC, pages 61–62:

     Two benches, shaped in sections of a circle, nearly enclosed the hearth; on one of these I stretched myself, and Grimalkin mounted the other. […] He [Joseph] cast a sinister look at the little flame which I had enticed to play between the ribs, swept the cat from its elevation, and bestowing himself in the vacancy, commenced the operation of stuffing a three-inch pipe with tobacco; […]

   • 1927, H. P. Lovecraft, The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath:

     Very quietly therefore did Randolph Carter steal to the edge of the wood and send the cry of the cat over the starlit fields. And a great grimalkin in a nearby cottage took up the burden and relayed it across leagues of rolling meadow to warriors large and small, black, grey, tiger, white, yellow, and mixed, and it echoed through Nir and beyond the Skai even into Ulthar, and Ulthar's numerous cats called in chorus and fell into a line of march.

2. (archaic) A bad-tempered old woman; a crone.

   Synonyms: see Thesaurus:old woman