whip the cat

Verb

whip the cat (third-person singular simple present whips the cat, present participle whipping the cat, simple past and past participle whipped the cat)

1. (idiomatic) To attempt to get work or money from someone who is too weak or poor to provide it.
   • There was a terrible "whipping of the cat, " as it is called, on the day the notes became due. This whipping the cat is nothing more than a parcel of traders puffing at one another's heels . . . to borrow money.1816, Paulding, Letters, page 172
   • […] seeing that the Committee has already practically defeated the principle that any new business shall have any special exemption under this Bill, I do not propose to take up further time in “whipping the cat” on that question.1917, Australia. Parliament, Parliamentary Debates - Volume 83, page 2165
2. (Australia, UK, idiomatic, obsolete) To practice extreme parsimony.
   • He kept school within six miles of Cooperstown, on the Burlington road, whipping the cat, just as young Munro did!1850, James Fenimore Cooper, The Letters and Journals of James Fenimore Cooper, page 152
   • I "whipped the cat” a bit, the first twenty miles or so, but then, I thought, what did it matter? What was the use of grinding to save money until we were too old to enjoy it.1901, Henry Lawson, Joe Wilson and his Mates
3. (Australia, New Zealand, idiomatic) To regret; to feel self-pity
   • I believe one of the members of our hunting section was lucky enough to get a subscription through before they stopped it. The rest of the members of the section have been "whipping the cat” because they left it too late1947, The Feathered Shaft, page 31
   • […] he will be whipping the cat he did not leave this line down to carry light traffic from the hills.1965, Western Australia. Parliament, Parliamentary Debates, page 2103
4. (idiomatic) To blame someone for something that is not their fault.
   • Whipping the cat may only increase our resentment and burn us up with anger. We may engage in combat with our neighbor until both are exhauste . Calling a truce and limping back under our own roof would not be peace.1947, To you - Volumes 14-16, page 31
   • When the work was over I'd to nurse the youngest child; Whenever I cracked a bit of a joke, the missus she would smile; The old fellow got jealous, looked like he'd murder me, And there he sat and whipped the cat, that cocky in Bungaree.1973, John Greenway, Australia: the Last Frontier, page 227
5. (idiomatic) To get drunk.
   • I knew him lads when first he shipped,
     And this is certain, that
     Though William by the 'cat' was whipped,
     He never 'whipped the cat'!1878, George Herbert Gibson, Southerly Busters, Pennsylvania State University, page 68
   • Presumably while Armin as Tutch is off “whipping the cat” ( getting drunk ) with the watermen, Blue John, his doubled part, arrives to entertain the wedding guests with his nurse and a boy.1952, Kent State University, Research Series - Issues 1-9, page 17
6. (US, dated, dialectal, idiomatic) To go from house to house working by the day, as itinerant tailors and carpenters do.
   • The practice of "whipping the cat,” though gradually disappearing, is not altogether abandoned by the tailors in this district.1835, John Donald Carrick, The Laird of Logan; Or, Wit of the West, page 166
   • I "whipped the cat" three months on the barrens — then I engaged to work for a merchant in Rome.1925, Benedict Fitzpatrick, Joseph Fulford Folsom, Edwin P. Conklin, The municipalities of Essex county, New Jersey, 1666-1924, page 84
7. (idiomatic) Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see whip, cat.
   • Some recommend taking the dead bird away from the cat and whipping the cat.1958, Emil Leopold Jordan, Fun with Pets and Plants: How to Keep Them Healthy and Happy, page 22