| 释义 |
grimalkin|grɪˈmælkɪn, -ˈmɔːlkɪn|
[prob. f. grey a. + malkin.]
A name given to a cat; hence, a cat, esp. an old she-cat; contemptuously applied to a jealous or imperious old woman.
In quot. 1605 used as the name of a fiend.
[1605Shakes. Macb. i. i. 9, I come, Gray-Malkin!] 1630J. Taylor (Water P.) Wks. ii. 114/1 Like Grimalkin Or a kinde needfull Vermin-coursing Cat. Ibid. 226/2, I list not write the bable praise Of Apes, or Owles, or Popinjaies Or of the Cat Grimalkin. 1703J. Phillips Splendid Shilling 74 Grimalkin to Domestic Vermine sworn An everlasting Foe. 1709Prior When Cat is Away 18 Grimalkin far all cats outshone. 1789G. White Selborne lxxvi, That a poor little sucking leveret should be fostered..by a bloody grimalkin. 1798C. Smith Yng. Philosopher III. 15 The venerable old grimalkin had taken Louisa with her, and accompanied the married folks into Suffolk. 1826Disraeli Viv. Grey ii. xvi, Like veritable Grimalkins, they [the Toadeys] fawn upon their victims previous to the festival. 1843Borrow Bible in Spain 53 Growling to herself, something after the manner of an old grimalkin when disturbed.
attrib.a1745Swift Dan Jackson's Picture ii. 6 But still were wanting his grimalkin eyes, For which gray worsted stocking paint supplies. 1784Gibbon Misc. Wks. (1814) II. 354 And now, my Lady, Let me approach your gentle, not grimalkin, presence, with deep remorse.
Hence griˈmalkined pa. pple. (nonce-wd.), vexed by a ‘grimalkin’.
1756Ld. Chesterfield World No. 185 ⁋2, I am not hen⁓pecked; I am not grimalkined; I have no Mrs. Freeman with her Italian airs; but I have a wife more troublesome than all three. |