The shape of a good greyhound:
A head like a snake, a neck like a drake, A back like a beam, sided like a bream, A _foot like a cat_, a tail like a rat.
_Ale that would make a cat talk._ Strong enough to make even the dumb speak.
"A spicy pot, Then do"s us reason, Would make a cat To talk high treason."--D"URFEY.
_A half-penny cat may look at a king_ (Scotch). A jeering saying of offence--"One is as good as another," and as a Scotchman once said, "and better."
_A m.u.f.fled cat is no good mouser._--CLARKE, 1639. No good workman wears gloves. By some is said "muzzled."
_A piece of a kid is worth two of a cat._ A little of good is better than much that is bad.
_A scalded cat fears cold water._ Once bit always shy. What was may be again.
_As cat or cap case_.
"Bouser I am not, but mild sober Tuesday, _As catte in cap case_, if I like not St. Hewsday."
_The Christmas Prince_, 1607.
_As gray as Grannum"s cat._--HAZLITT. So old as to be likely to be doubly gray.
_As melancholy as a cat._--WALKER. The voice of the cat is melancholy.
_As melancholy as a gib-cat_ (Scotch). As an old, worn-out cat.--JOHNSTON.
"I am as melancholy as a gib-cat or a lugged bear."[B]
SHAKESPEARE.
[B] A lugged bear is a bear with its ears cut off, so that when used for baiting there is less hold for the dogs.
Gib-cat; an old, lonely, melancholy cat.
_Before the cat can lick her ear._ "Nay, you were not quite out of hearing ere the cat could lick her ear."--_Oviddius Exultans_, 1673, p.
50. That is never.
Dun, besides being the name of one who arrested for debt in Henry VII."s time, was also the name of the hangman before "Jack Ketch."--GROSE.
"And presently a halter got, Made of the best strong teer, And ere a cat could lick her ear, Had tied it up with so much art."
1664, COTTON"S _Virgile_, Book 4.
_By biting and scratching dogs and cats come together._--HEYWOOD.
Quarrelling oft makes friends.
_Care clammed a cat._--SIR G. C. LEWIS"S "Herefordshire Glossary."
Clammed means starvation; that is, care killed the cat; for want of food the entrails get "clammed."
_Care killed the cat, but ye canna live without it._ To all some trouble, though not all take heed. None know another"s burden.
_Care will kill a cat._
"Then hang care and sorrow, "Tis able to kill a cat."--D"URFEY.
Alluding to its tenacity of life and the carking wear of care.
_Cats after kind good mouse hunt._--HEYWOOD. Letter by F. A. touching the quarrel between Arthur Hall and Melch Mallorie, in 1575-6, repr. of ed. 1580, in "Misc^{y}. Antiq. Anglic." 1816, p. 93. "For never yet was good cat out of kinde."--_English Proverbs_, HAZLITT.
_Cats and Carlins sit in the sun._ When work is done then warmth and rest.
_Cats eat what hussies spare._ Nothing is lost. Also refers to giving away, and saying "the cat took it."
_Cats hide their claws._ All is not fair that seems so. Trust not to appearances.
_Cry you mercy, killed my cat._--CLARKE, 1639. Better away, than stay and ask pardon.
_Every day"s no yule; cast the cat a castock._ The stump of a cabbage, and the proverb means much the same thing as "Spare no expense, bring another bottle of _small beer_."--DENHAM"S _Popular Sayings_, 1846.
OF FALSE PERSONS.
_He bydes as fast as a cat bound with a sacer._ He does as he likes; nothing holds him.
OF WITTIE PERSONS.
_He can hold the cat to the sun._ Bold and foolish enough for anything.
INCONSTANT PERSONS.
_He is like a dog or a cat._ Not reliable.
_He looks like a wild cat out of a bush._ Fiercely afraid.
_He"s like a cat; fling him which way you will, he"ll not hurt._ Some are always superior to misfortune, or fortune favours many.
_He"s like a singed cat, better than he"s likely._ He"s better than he looks or seems.
_He stands in great need that borrows the cat"s dish._--CLARKE, 1639.
The starving are not particular. The hungry cannot choose.
_He lives at the sign of the cat"s foot._ He is hen-pecked, his wife scratches him.--RAY.
_He wald gar a man trow that the moon is made of green cheis, or the cat took the heron._ Never believe all that is laid to another.
_Honest as the cat when the meat is out of reach._ Some are honest, but others not by choice.