Dictionaries of the Scots Language
Dictionars o the Scots Leid

A Dictionary of the Older Scottish Tongue (up to 1700)

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First published 1937 (DOST Vol. I).
This entry has not been updated since then but may contain minor corrections and revisions.

Cat, n.¹ Also: catt(e. [ME. catt(e, cat, OE. cat(t, ON. katt-, kǫttr.]

1. A cat. a1400 Leg. S. vii. 680.
For nothire wes lewit in that towne hwnde, na catte, … vnhetyne 1456 Hay I. 120/20.
Rycht sa the hund and the wolf, the cat and the mous a1500 Henr. Fab. 326.
In come Gib Hunter, our jolie cat, And bad God speid Ib. 2002.
Thow wenis to draw the stra befoir the catt c1475 Wall. x. 809.
Ȝon wood cattis [= leopards] sall do ws litill der c1500-c1512 Dunb. xxxix. 23.
Husbandis that … had … Cattell and corne … Hes now no beist but cattis and myce 1530 Soc. Ant. II. 391.
The sys ordains that the hangman sell escheit to hymself all swyne, doggs, & cattis at he fyndis one the gait 1540 Lynd. Sat. 468.
Hay! As ane brydlit cat I brank 1567 Sat. P. iii. 179.
War … I ane cat and sho ane lytill mous a1605 Montg. Flyt. 360.
With warwolfes and wild cates [T. wilcattis] thy weird bee to wander 1624 Misc. Abbotsf. C. 144.
Thomas Logie … meitting ane number of cattis … quhilk vnbesett him, the said Thomas saw ȝour face vpoun ane of [the] cattis 1662 Crim. Trials III. 611.
Quhan we vold be in the shap of cattis, we did nothing but cry and wraw

2. Cattis e, the precious stone ‘cat's-eye,. 1542 Inv. Wardrobe 67.
Item, ane ring with ane cattis E