catling

/ˈkætlɪŋ/

catling noun: a little cat; a kitten.

Noun

catling (plural catlings)

(archaic) A little cat; a kitten.
- For never cat nor catling I shall find, / But mew shall they in Pluto's palace blind.a. 1649, William Drummond of Hawthornden, Phillis
- Abel was a lover of the worst type: when he was with a catling he hardly ever laughed . If the catling came back again, he never did.1992, Yves Navarre, A Cat's Life, page 32
catgut; a catgut string
- but, I am sure, none, unless the fiddler Apollo get his sinews to make catlings on.c. 1602 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Tragedie of Troylus and Cressida”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and...
- If you have a two-string lute, where one string is made with iron and the other with catling (made of sheep guts), and you tune it so that it produces the best unison, you shall lose it as soon as you move the keys, while looking for a new common chord. In practical terms, if an iron string and a...2018, Pietro Greco, Galileo Galilei, The Tuscan Artist, page 76
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.1825, Sir Astley Cooper, Frederick Tyrrell, The Lectures of Sir Astley Cooper, page 323
- The operator […] grasping the soft parts immediately below, raises them so as to facilitate the passage of a double-edged knife or catling across the face of the bones […]1852, Joseph Pancoast, A Treatise on Operative Surgery
Synonyms:

catlin

Proper noun capitalized: Catling

Catling

A surname.

catling meaning in Tamil

catling in Tamil

சிறுபூனை, பூனைக்குட்டி, நேர்த்தியான நரம்புத் தந்தி, உறுப்பினை அறுத்தெடுப்பதற்கான கூர்ங்கத்தி

Examples of catling in a sentence

"Have you seen the ship's catling, Little Mistress?" he called, crossing to Hisvet, the kitten almost hidden in his big hands.2014, Fritz Leiber, The Swords of Lankhmar:
The brewer's wife was heard to say She'd cleave the catling's tail in twae So Bully raoed and ran away2021, Christopher Buehlman, The Blacktongue Thief Sneak Peek:
In practical terms, if an iron string and a catling string with the same length vibrate in unison , this does not mean they will do the same if you cut them by half .2018, Pietro Greco, Galileo Galilei, The Tuscan Artist, page 76:
Festing's bill suggests that a catling could be used to make or improve the handle of a bow.2023, Colin Timms, Music, Books and Theatre in Eighteenth-Century Exton:

Synonyms of catling

catlin

Forms of catling

plural	catlings

Origin of catling

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

Questions about catling

What does catling mean?: Catling means a little cat; a kitten.
What is catling in Tamil?: Catling in Tamil is சிறுபூனை, பூனைக்குட்டி, நேர்த்தியான நரம்புத் தந்தி. See Catling meaning in Tamil.
How do you use catling in a sentence?: "Have you seen the ship's catling, Little Mistress?" he called, crossing to Hisvet, the kitten almost hidden in his big hands.
What part of speech is catling?: Catling can be a noun or a proper noun.
How do you pronounce catling?: Catling is pronounced /ˈkætlɪŋ/.
What is the plural of catling?: The plural of catling is catlings.

Words near catling in the dictionary

Adapted from Wiktionary: catling (page history and authors); Catling (page history and authors); catling (Tamil Wiktionary) (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.

Last updated: 2026-09-02

Cite this entry: “catling.” Word.ws, https://word.ws/catling. Based on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.