grimalkin
Americannoun
-
a cat.
-
an old female cat.
-
an ill-tempered old woman.
noun
-
an old cat, esp an old female cat
-
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
The owner decided to have the grimalkin respectably buried in her garden, and a man named Willan dug a grave for it.
From Bygone Cumberland and Westmorland by Daniel Scott
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
Surely," said I, "surely that is a grimalkin at my lattice.
From Punch, or the London Charivari, Volume 99, August 23, 1890 by Various
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 T. Landseer
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.
