grimalkin
Americannoun
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a cat.
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an old female cat.
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an ill-tempered old woman.
noun
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an old cat, esp an old female cat
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a crotchety or shrewish old woman
Etymology
Origin of grimalkin
1595–1605; apparently alteration of gray 1 + malkin, diminutive of Maud proper name; see -kin
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
One only of all Charles Cholerton's cats escaped; a smoky grimalkin, she came slinking from a fiery window, her eyes lit with warm red fury.
From Time Magazine Archive
She purred, she frolicked, she pounced on an imaginary mouse, caught it, tossed it up in the air, and went through all the manœuvres of a veritable grimalkin.
From The Three Brides, Love in a Cottage, and Other Tales by Durivage, Francis A. (Francis Alexander)
Low on the hearth my good grimalkin lies, His supple, glossy limbs outstretched along; Now gently sleeps with softly closèd eyes, Now, half awakened, purrs his even-song.
From Christmas Entertainments by Kellogg, Alice Maude
For my part, I cannot abide cats since my neighbor’s grimalkin stole my sausage.”
From The Proud Prince by McCarthy, Justin H. (Justin Huntly)
An enormous grimalkin, almost a wild cat, comes rattling along the roof, down from the chimney-top, and Tom Tortoiseshell, leaping from love to war, tackles to the Red Rover in single combat.
From The Mirror of Literature, Amusement, and Instruction Volume 17, No. 484, April 9, 1831 by Various
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
