Catling

//ˈkætlɪŋ// name, noun

name, noun ·Uncommon ·Advanced level

Definitions

Noun
  1. 1
    A little cat; a kitten. archaic

    "For never cat nor catling I shall find, / But mew shall they in Pluto's palace blind."

  2. 2
    a long double-edged knife used for amputations wordnet
  3. 3
    catgut; a catgut string

    "but, I am sure, none, unless the fiddler Apollo get his sinews to make catlings on."

  4. 4
    A double-edged, sharp-pointed dismembering knife.

    "the amputation is competed by passing the catling between the separated bones, dividng the flexor tendons, &c., and forming a flap of about equal size to the superior from the integument on the sole of the foot."

Proper Noun
  1. 1
    A surname.

Synonyms

All synonyms
calfcatlincatlinchickcoltcub

Example

More examples

"For never cat nor catling I shall find, / But mew shall they in Pluto's palace blind."

Etymology

From cat + -ling. Compare kitling, catkin. According to the OED, the sense of a surgical knife may be an independent word.

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Data sourced from Wiktionary, WordNet, CMU, and other open linguistic databases. Updated March 2026.