Speakur

Word Pronunciation & Dictionary

cat's-paw

Word Rarity Rare

Frequency: 3.11 in modern English

Syllables
cat's--paw
IPA
14
Scrabble Score
7
Letters
3
Syllables
6
Unique Chars

Meaning

noun

A paw of a cat.

noun

Someone who acts in another's interest, (properly) unknowingly or through trickery.

noun

A minor breeze that ripples the surface of a body of water.

noun

A twisting variant of the lark's-foot hitch which forms two small bights used to hook a pair of tackles to a rope.

noun

Someone or something that comes down quickly upon a victim in the manner of a cat's paw.

noun

A small crowbar with a handle at a right angle to a blade with a V-shaped notch, principally used by carpenters to remove nails.

American usage

noun

A metal set of claws worn over the hand or wielded in the hand used to remove skin and flesh.

noun

A supervisor whose reliance on a subordinate's analysis is so complete as to render him or her liable for the subordinate's animus or other misconduct towards a third employee.

American usage

Example Sentences

Etymology

From cat + paw. In most senses, due to a resemblance of shape. In its senses as a pawn to another's interests or analysis, variant of earlier cat's-foot, derived from European tales of a monkey (attested as early as 1456 but sometimes misattributed to the 16th-century monkey of Pope Julius II) who used a sleeping puppy or cat's foot to rake hot chestnuts out of a fire, taken as a metaphor for rulers' ill use of their subjects. Now usually understood in light of Jean de La Fontaine's 1679 fable of the "The Monkey and the Cat" (sometimes misattributed to Aesop), in which the monkey fools the cat into removing the chestnuts through flattery and promises of shared reward. The cat removes the chestnuts one by one, burning his paw while the monkey eats each in turn. A maid then enters and chases them both away. La Fontaine's moral concludes that princes should not endure real losses for mere flattery from their king.

Usage

Inflected Forms

cat's-paws (plural) cats'-paws (plural) cat's paw (alternative) catspaw (alternative)

Phrases

monkey's paw an unrelated metaphor from a separate story cat's eye a feature of gemstones monkey's fist an unrelated type of knot flying monkeys in popular psychology

Frequently Paired Words

monkey's paw an unrelated metaphor from a separate story cat's eye a feature of gemstones monkey's fist an unrelated type of knot flying monkeys in popular psychology

Synonyms

tool dupe cat's claw rubber stamp kangaroo paw instrument pawn

Questions

What does cat's-paw mean?
A paw of a cat.
Where does cat's-paw come from?
From cat + paw. In most senses, due to a resemblance of shape. In its senses as a pawn to another's interests or analysis, variant of earlier cat's-foot, derived from European tales of a monkey (attested as early as 1456 but sometimes misattributed to the 16th-century monkey of Pope Julius II) who used a sleeping puppy or cat's foot to rake hot chestnuts out of a fire, taken as a metaphor for rulers' ill use of their subjects. Now usually understood in light of Jean de La Fontaine's 1679 fable of the "The Monkey and the Cat" (sometimes misattributed to Aesop), in which the monkey fools the cat into removing the chestnuts through flattery and promises of shared reward. The cat removes the chestnuts one by one, burning his paw while the monkey eats each in turn. A maid then enters and chases them both away. La Fontaine's moral concludes that princes should not endure real losses for mere flattery from their king.

How to pronounce cat's-paw

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