cat-o'-nine-tails

English

Alternative forms

• cat-o'-nine (uncommon short form)

Etymology

From cat +‎ of +‎ nine +‎ tails; attested since 1695.

Pronunciation

• Audio (US)

  (file)

Noun

cat-o'-nine-tails (plural cats-o'-nine-tails)

1. (nautical) A scourge (multi-tail whip) having nine, often knotted, whipcords, formerly used for flogging as naval punishment.
   • 1695, [William] Congreve, Love for Love: A Comedy. […], London: […] Jacob Tonson, […], →OCLC, Act III, scene vii, page 44:

     But I do tell you one thing, if you ſhould give ſuch Language at Sea, you'd have a Cat o' Nine-tails laid croſs your Shoulders.

2. A similarly constructed leather nine-tail whip, as used in British penal colonies and certain armies.

Hypernyms

• scourge

Translations

nine-corded whip

• Chinese:

  Mandarin: 九尾鞭, 九尾猫 (jiǔwěi māo)

• Czech: důtky f pl, devítiocasá kočka f
• Danish: nihalet kat c
• Dutch: kat met negen staarten m
• Esperanto: naŭvosta kato
• Finnish: yhdeksänhäntäinen kissa
• French: chat à neuf queues (fr) m
• German: neunschwänzige Katze f
• Hebrew: חָתוּל בַּעַל תִּשְׁעַת הַזְנָבוֹת‎ m (katul ba'al tish'at zenavot)
• Hungarian: kilencfarkú macska
• Indonesian: cambuk (id)
• Italian: gatto a nove code m
• Korean: 아홉꼬리 고양이 (ahopkkori goyang'i)
• Norwegian: nihalet katt (no) m, katt (no) m
• Polish: kańczug (pl) m
• Portuguese: chicote (pt) m
• Russian: ко́шка (ru) f (kóška), девятихво́стка (ru) f (devjatixvóstka)
• Spanish: gato de nueve colas m
• Swedish: niosvansad katt c