Definitions
from The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language, 4th Edition
- n. A cat, especially an old female cat.
- n. An old woman considered to be ill-tempered.
from Wiktionary, Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License
- n. A cat, especially an elderly female.
- n. An old, bad-tempered woman; a crone.
from the GNU version of the Collaborative International Dictionary of English
- n. An old cat, especially a she-cat.
- n. A bad-tempered old woman.
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- n. A cat, especially an old cat: often used as a proper name, with or without a capital letter.
Etymologies
Examples
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A grimalkin, that is to say, a Cat, went out one night to a certain garden, in search of what she might devour, but found nothing and became weak for the excess of cold and rain that prevailed that night.
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A related word is grimalkin, referring to an old female cat or an ill-tempered old woman.
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To let the peculiar grimalkin-grimace come on her face, the most weird grimalkin-twang come into her voice?
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And they remained these grey-ribbed grimalkins, dressed in elegant clothes, the grimalkin howl even passing into their smart chatter.
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Of all the horrors, perhaps the grimalkin women, her contemporaries, were the most repellent to her.
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In the dead of the night there was a fearful caterwauling; some grimalkin was uncivil to her; then there was a scramble, then a clapper-clawing; then both parties rolled off the roof and tumbled from a great height among the trees on the hill side.
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Pinch its scut or bite its ears, and when it exclaims, "Miauw!" it is not a genuine rabbit, but a grimalkin in disguise.
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Moreover, he had hundreds of mice to his credit and no birds, for he was a good and wise grimalkin.
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But, as the baited grimalkin turns to the worrying cur, so did the bull turn exactly with my movements, ever presenting his head, and nothing but his head.
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A cheerful fire blazes on the hearth; and at the moment grimalkin is purring on the rug.
The Knickerbocker, or New-York Monthly Magazine, January 1844 Volume 23, Number 1
arby commented on the word grimalkin
1. A cat, especially an old female cat. 2. An old woman considered to be ill-tempered.
ETYMOLOGY: Variant of graymalkin : gray1 + obsolete malkin, lower-class woman; see merkin.
May 18, 2007