whipping 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
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
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
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
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
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

See all 7 meanings of whip the cat