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
Her upcoming had been supervised by a grimalkin governess who drew around the form of her young charge the awful circle of exclusiveness, intercourse with child-kind being strictly prohibited.
From Our Next-Door Neighbors by Maniates, Belle Kanaris
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)
When the person appointed to feed grimalkin went with her breakfast next day, no traces of her or her kitten were to be found.
From Stories about the Instinct of Animals, Their Characters, and Habits by Landseer, T.
I reverted to my pillow, and fell into a train of conjectures touching the grimalkin.
From The Knickerbocker, or New-York Monthly Magazine, June 1844 Volume 23, Number 6 by Clark, Lewis Gaylord
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.
