catgut
(ˈkætgʌt)
Forms: 7 cat's-guts, 8 cat's-gut, 8– catgut.
[So in Du. kattedarm. So far as the name can be traced back, it distinctly means guts or intestines of the cat, though it is not known that these were ever used for the purpose. Cf. also catling.
(Some have conjectured a humorous reference to the resemblance of the sound to caterwauling.)]
1. The dried and twisted intestines of sheep, also of the horse and ass; used for the strings of musical instruments; also as bands in lathes, clocks, etc.
| 1599 Warn. Faire Wom. i. 9 What, yet more cats guts? oh, this filthy sound Stifles mine ears..I'll cut your fiddle strings If you stand scraping thus to anger me! [1607 Marston What you will iii. i. in N. & Q. (1886) 10 Apr., The musitions Hover with nimble sticks ore squeaking crowds [fiddles] Tickling the dryed gutts of a mewing cat.] 1680 Cotton in Singer Hist. Cards (1816) 334 Strung, or run upon cat's guts. 1688 R. Holme Armoury iii. 357/1 Made of the Guts of Beasts as sheep, etc., though the generall name of it is Cats-Guts. 1780 Cowper Progr. Err. 126 With wire and catgut he concludes the day, Quavering and semiquavering care away. 1807–8 W. Irving Salmag. (1824) 27 Sympathise at every twang of the cat-gut, as if he heard at that moment the wailings of the helpless animal that had been sacrificed to harmony. 1878 Huxley Physiogr. 71 The effect of moisture upon catgut. |
2. A violin; stringed instruments collectively.
| 1709 Brit. Apollo II. No. 19. 2/2 Great Patron of Cat⁓guts. 1740 Somerville Hobbinol i. 142 Hark, from aloft his tortur'd Cat-gut squeals. 1867 Cornh. Mag. Jan. 30 Drowned in a roar of brass and catgut. |
3. ‘A coarse cloth formed of thick cord, woven widely and used in the last century for lining and stiffening dress, particularly the skirts and sleeves of a coat’ (Fairholt).
| 1731 Mrs. Delany Autobiog. (1861) I. 282, I have not sent you any catgut for working handkerchiefs. 1823 Galt Entail I. i. 7 The vast head-dress of catgut and millinery. |
4. sea catgut: a slender cord-like sea-weed; sea-lace, Chorda filum.
5. attrib. and Comb. as catgut-scraper, a contemptuous designation of a violinist.
| 1633 Massinger Guardian iv. ii, Wire-string and catgut men, and strong-breathed heautbois. 1711 Lond. Gaz. No. 4890/4 A Cats-gut string. 1723 Ibid. No. 6222/8 William Burridge, Catgut-spinner. 1806 Wolcott (P. Pindar) Tristia Wks. 1812 V. 267 Behold! the Cat-gut-scraper with his croud Commands at will the house of hospitality. 1832 W. Stephenson Gateshead Poems 23 Two nightly cat gut scrapers. 1833 Manuf. Metal II. 137 (Cabinet Cycl.) Transferring the catgut band from one groove to the other. 1881 Syd. Soc. Lex. s.v. Catheter, railway, It is introduced over a catgut bougie or guide. |