kitten
[kit-n]
- a young cat.
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- (of cats) to give birth; bear.
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Origin of kitten
1350–1400; Middle English kitoun, apparently blend of kiteling kitling and Middle French chitoun, variant of chaton kitten
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018
Examples from the Web for kitten
Contemporary Examples
Suppose I have a sincere religious belief that if I stop at a stop sign, God kills a kitten.
They are cheered on by penguins and interrupted by a kitten halftime show after the first hour.
That message was like catnip and I am the worst kind of kitten: I love trouble.
A little girl wearing preppy clothes with a kitten—people want to be like her and wear those same clothes.
From a cat pawing over a long-distance relationship to the fall of a YouTube star, see the best of the kitten clips.
Historical Examples
Suddenly she smiled—the smile that suggested, in some subtle way, a kitten.
The Slave Of The LampHenry Seton Merriman
I was ill for three days, and all that time the kitten was kept with me.
Concerning CatsHelen M. Winslow
Wordsworth's "Kitten and the Falling Leaves," is in the high, moralizing style.
Concerning CatsHelen M. Winslow
Then, too, he used to wash Jack, lapping him all over as a mother cat does her kitten.
Concerning CatsHelen M. Winslow
The Pole-cat or Skunk is about the size of a kitten eight months old.
The History of LouisianaLe Page Du Pratz
kitten
- a young cat
- have kittens or have a canary British informal to react with disapproval, anxiety, etcshe had kittens when she got the bill US equivalent: have a cow
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- (of cats) to give birth to (young)
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Word Origin
C14: from Old Northern French caton, from cat 1; probably influenced by Middle English kiteling
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition
© William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins
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Word Origin and History for kitten
n.
late 14c., probably from an Anglo-French variant of Old French chitoun (Old North French caton) "little cat," from chat "cat," from Late Latin cattus (see cat). Applied playfully to a young girl, a sweetheart, from 1870.
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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper
Idioms and Phrases with kitten
kitten
see have a fit (kittens); weak as a kitten.
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The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary
Copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.