Cat-Match, subs. (old).—See quot.
1785. Grose, Dict. Vulg. Tongue. Cat Match: when a rook or cully is engaged amongst bad bowlers.
Catoller or Catolla, subs. (old).—A
noisy, prating fellow.—See
quot.
1832. Pierce Egan, Book of Sports, p. 70. [Catolla is given as a foolish, betting man.]
Cat-o'-Nine-Tails or Cat, subs.
(common).—A nine-lashed
scourge now used for the punishment
of criminals, but until 1881
the authorised means of punishment
in the British army and
navy. [From cat, a beast with
claws, + o' + nine tails, the
nine knotted lashes. History is
against the view of some military
authorities that the cat-o'-nine-tails
was a Batavian importation
of William III., and that the
word 'cat' is derived from the
Sclavonic kat, an executioner, or
from katowae, to lash or torture.
Another theory is that it was introduced
at the time of the Armada
(1588), when vast numbers
of these 'straunge whips' were
found in the captured ships of the
Spaniards. A ballad of the period
declares of the Spaniards that—
They made such whippes wherewith no man Would seeme to strike a dogge; So strengthened eke with brasen tagges And filde so roughe and thinne, That they would force at every lash The bloud abroad to spinne.
This view is not inconsistent with the quotations, the first of which antedates the earliest given in the N.E.D. by thirty years.] In prison parlance the cat-o'-nine-tails is known as number one or the nine-tailed bruiser (q.v.). the birch as number two (q.v.).
1665. R. Head, English Rogue, pt. I., ch. iii., p. 28 (1874). A Cat of Nine-*tails (as he called it) being so many small cords.
1702. Vanbrugh, False Friend, prologue. You dread reformers of an impious age, You awful cat-a-nine tails to the stage.
1748. Smollett, Rod. Random, ch. v. 'I'll bring him to the gangway, and anoint him with a cat-and-nine-tails.'
1837. Carlyle, Fr. Rev., pt. III., bk. VII., ch. iii. Rash coalised kings, such a fire have ye kindled; yourselves fireless, your fighters animated only by drill-sergeants, mess-room moralities, and the drummer's cat.
Cat-Party; also Bitch-Party,
subs. (common).—A party consisting
entirely of women. [From
cat, a woman, + party.] Cf.,
Stag-party, and see Hen-Party
for synonyms.
Cats, subs. (commercial).—Atlantic
Seconds were formerly so-called
for telegraphic purposes.
Cats and Dogs. To rain cats
and dogs, sometimes extended
to and pitchforks and
shovels, phr. (popular).—To
rain heavily. [The French cata-*doupe,
a waterfall, has been suggested
as the origin. Another
etymon has been found in the
Greek [Greek: kata doxan] in reference to
the downpour being out of the
common. Possibly Swift, who
seems to have been the first to
have used the expression, may
have evolved it out of his own
description of a city shower (1710).
Now from all parts the swelling kennels flow, And bear their trophies with them as they go. . . . Drown'd puppies, stinking sprats, all drench'd in mud, Dead cats, and turnip-tops, come tumbling down the flood.]
1788. Swift, Pol. Convers., dial. 2. I know Sir John will go, though he was sure it would rain cats and dogs.
