grimalkin
\ gri-MAL-kin, -MAWL- \ , noun;
1.a cat.
2.an old female cat.
3.an ill-tempered old woman.
Quotes:
In the dead of the night there was a fearful caterwauling; some grimalkin was uncivil to her; then there was a scramble, then a clapper-clawing; then both parties rolled off the roof and tumbled from a great height among the trees on the hillside.
-- Washington Irving, "Tales of the Alhambra" , 1832
I have never felt more comfortable in my spirit. I had no thought of you until my Grimalkin mewed at my window, and to admit him I had need to face the garden where we…
-- Rebecca West, "Harriet Hume" , 1929
Origin:
Grimalkin is apparently an alteration of the words gray and malkin , which is a diminutive form of the name Maud.
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