Word.ws English Dictionary

cat-o'-nine-tails

cat-o'-nine-tails noun: a scourge (multi-tail whip) having nine, often knotted, whipcords, formerly used for flogging as naval punishment.

cat-o'-nine-tails: a scourge (multi-tail whip) having nine, often knotted, whipcords, formerly used for flogging as...
Image: Pearson Scott Foresman, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Noun

cat-o'-nine-tails (plural cats-o'-nine-tails)

  1. A scourge (multi-tail whip) having nine, often knotted, whipcords, formerly used for flogging as naval punishment.
    • But I do tell you one thing, if you ſhould give ſuch Language at Sea, you'd have a Cat o' Nine-tails laid croſs your Shoulders.1695, [William] Congreve, Love for Love: A Comedy. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, Act III, scene vii, page 44
  2. A similarly constructed leather nine-tail whip, as used in British penal colonies and certain armies.

cat-o'-nine-tails meaning in Indonesian

cat-o'-nine-tails in Indonesian

nine-corded whip
cambuk

Forms of cat-o'-nine-tails

pluralcats-o'-nine-tails
alternative short-form uncommoncat-o'-nine

Origin of cat-o'-nine-tails

From cat + o' + nine + tails, cat referring to the inflicted wounds resembling the scratches of a cat. First attested in 1695.

Questions about cat-o'-nine-tails

What does cat-o'-nine-tails mean?
Cat-o'-nine-tails means a scourge (multi-tail whip) having nine, often knotted, whipcords, formerly used for flogging as naval punishment.
What is cat-o'-nine-tails in Indonesian?
Cat-o'-nine-tails in Indonesian is cambuk. See Cat-o'-nine-tails meaning in Indonesian.
What part of speech is cat-o'-nine-tails?
Cat-o'-nine-tails is a noun.
What is the plural of cat-o'-nine-tails?
The plural of cat-o'-nine-tails is cats-o'-nine-tails.

Words near cat-o'-nine-tails in the dictionary

  1. cat-napping
  2. cat-naps
  3. cat-nip
  4. cat-nips
  5. cat-o'-nine
  6. cat-o'-nine-tails
  7. cat-o-nine
  8. cat-o-nines
  9. cat-proof
  10. cat-rigged
  11. cat-salt

Source and license

Adapted from Wiktionary: cat-o'-nine-tails (page history and authors). Text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 license. Word.ws reformatted the entry and added links. Wiktionary data of 2026-09-02.

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Pronunciation audio from Wikimedia Commons, each file under its own free license: En-us-cat-o'-nine-tails.ogg.

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