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1593. 4 Lett. Conf., in wks. (Grosart) II., 286. If it bee a home booke at his first conception, let it be a home booke still, and turne not cat in the panne.
1625. Bacon, Essays (of Cunning), p. 441 (Arber). There is a Cunning, which we in England call, The Turning of the Cat in the Pan, which is, when that which a Man says to another, he laies it, as if Another had said it to him.
c. 1720. Song, 'The Vicar of Bray.' 'When George in pudding time came in, And moderate men looked big, sir, He turned a cat-in-pan once more, And so became a Whig, sir.'
1816. Scott, Old Mortality, ch. xxxv. 'O, this precious Basil will turn cat in pan with any man!' replied Claverhouse.
To feel as though a cat had kittened in one!s mouth, phr. (popular).—To 'have a mouth' after drunkenness.
Many other phrases and proverbial sayings might, more or less justifiably, be classed as slang in this connection; e.g., to fight like Kilkenny cats; to grin like a Cheshire cat; not room enough to swing a cat; able to make a cat speak, and a man dumb; who shot the cat (the last a reproach addressed to volunteers), etc.
Catamaran, subs. (colloquial).—A
vixenish old woman; also a cross-grained
person of either sex. [Cf.,
Catamount. Probably associated
with the colloquial use of
cat, a quarrelsome, vicious
woman]. For synonyms, see
Geezer.
1833. Marryat, Peter Simple, ch. vi. The cursed drunken old catamaran, cried he, I'll go and cut her down by the head.
1855. Thackeray. Newcomes, ch. lxxv. 'What a woman that Mrs. Mackenzie is!' cries F. B. 'What an infernal tartar and catamaran!'
1861. Macmillan's Magazine, June, p. 113. She was such an obstinate old catamaran.
Catamount, Catamountain, or Cat O'Mountain, subs. (American).—A shrew. [Cf., Catamaran and Beaumont and Fletcher's use of the word for a wild man from the mountains, itself a transferred sense of catamount = a leopard or panther.]
1616. Fletcher, Cust. of Country, I., i. The rude claws of such a cat o' mountain!
1835. Haliburton, Clockmaker, 1 S., ch., xii. She was a dreadful cross-*grained woman, a real catamount, as savage as a she-bear that has cubs.
Cat and Mouse, subs. phr.
(rhyming slang).—A house.
Catastrophe, subs. (old).—The tail
or latter end. Cf., the Falstaffism
'I'll tickle your catastrophe.'
Catawampous, Catawamptiously, adj. and adv. (popular).—With avidity; fiercely; eagerly; or violently destructive. See Catawampus.
1843. Dickens, Martin Chuzzlewit, ch., xxi., 216. There air some catawampous chawers in the small way too, as graze upon a human pretty strong.
1853. Lytton, My Novel, bk. X., ch. xx. If a man like me . . . is to be catawampously champed up by a mercenary selfish cormorant of a capitalist.
18(?). F. Burnand, The White Cat. Don't hurt me; spare a poor unhappy pup, Or I'll be catawampously chawed up.
Catawampus, subs.—Vermin, especially those that sting and bite. [Apparently formed from Catawampous (q.v.).]
1880. Mortimer Collins, Thoughts in My Garden, vol. I., p. 244. Look at their [spiders'] value in destroying wasps
