malkin

[maw-kin, mawl-, mal-]

See more synonyms for malkin on Thesaurus.com

noun British Dialect.

an untidy woman; slattern.
a scarecrow, ragged puppet, or grotesque effigy.
a mop, especially one made from a bundle of rags and used to clean out a baker's oven.

a cat.
a hare.

Also mawkin.

Origin of malkin

1200–50; Middle English: literally, little Molly, equivalent to Mal, variant of Molly Mary + -kin

Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Related Words for malkin

tramp, whore, puma, panther, tabby, kitty, lynx, tiger, cougar, lion, puss, kitten, leopard, bobcat, jaguar, tomcat, pussy, ocelot, tom, cheetah

Examples from the Web for malkin

Contemporary Examples of malkin

The Malkin family, through Malkin Securities, owns 10 million square feet of real estate, including the Empire State Building.
A Candidate Shuns His Family Fortune
Samuel P. Jacobs
September 30, 2010
Hannity and Malkin can still rant, but somewhere, Jack Murtha is watching, with a smile.
The Democrats' Big Gun
Peter Beinart
February 12, 2010
Today Malkin says this anecdote— highlighted in her Wikipedia entry —has been largely mischaracterized by the mainstream media.
Michelle Malkin Has Feelings, Too
Lloyd Grove
September 22, 2009
Malkin also likes to get out of her house and do shoe-leather reporting, albeit with ideological intent.
Michelle Malkin Has Feelings, Too
Lloyd Grove
September 22, 2009
The recipient of occasional death threats, Malkin has twice felt the need to move her family to undisclosed locations.
Michelle Malkin Has Feelings, Too
Lloyd Grove
September 22, 2009

Historical Examples of malkin

Malkin is a man of singular temper, judgment, and firmness of nerve.
Life and Letters of Lord Macaulay
George Otto Trevelyan
I wish his Malkin was re-established at Tournay—and so I believe does he.
Private letters of Edward Gibbon (1753-1794) Volume 2 (of 2)
Edward Gibbon
The floods descended from the congregated sisterhood at Malkin tower.
Lancashire Folk-lore
John Harland
Malkin was one of the few English female names with this appendage.
Curiosities of Puritan Nomenclature
Charles W. Bardsley
Miss Malkin came and atoned for her historic glance in the shop.
The Price of Love
Arnold Bennett

British Dictionary definitions for malkin

malkin

noun

an archaic or dialect name for a cat 1 Compare grimalkin
a variant of mawkin

Word Origin for malkin

C13: diminutive of Maud

Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for malkin

also mawkin, "a slattern; woman of the lower classes," late 13c., from fem. proper name Malkyn, a diminutive of Mault "Maud" (see Matilda). Also attested from c.1200 as the proper name of a female specter. Sense of "untidy woman" led to meaning "mop, bundle of rags on a stick" (used to clean ovens, artillery pieces, etc.), c.1400.

MALKINTRASH. One in dismal garb. ["Dictionary of Buckish Slang, University Wit, and Pickpocket Eloquence," London, 1811]

Attested as the name of a cat since 1670s (perhaps earlier as Grimalkin, 16c.); cf. Serbo-Croatian mačka "cat," originally a pet-name form of Maria. Also used in Scotland and northern England as the name of a hare (1724).