three old cat

three o' cat,

[three uh kat]

noun

1. two old cat played with three bases and three batters.

Word History and Origins

Origin of three old cat¹

An Americanism first recorded in 1850–55

Example Sentences

Two Old Cat, Three Old Cat, and Four Old Cat were modifications of this game, having respectively four, six, and eight players.

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It is probable that the game was once—some5 hundreds of years ago, maybe—called “three hole catch,” and that the name was gradually corrupted into “three hole cat,” as it is still called in the interior States, and then became changed by mistake to “three old cat.”

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While the larger boys in the village school of Greenbank were having a game of “three old cat” before school-time, there appeared on the playground a strange boy, carrying two books, a slate, and an atlas under his arm.

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In the same manner "Three Old Cat" was played by six, and "Four Old Cat" by eight boys.

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