ˈsalt-cat
[Originally northern. The original meaning of the second element is unknown; cat is used dialectally as a name for several mixtures of which clay is a constituent: see E.D.D.
Cf. ‘Cat, a chump of clay stone’; ‘Clay-cat, a kind of large roundish stone found in clay’ (Barnes Dorset Gloss.).]
A mass of salt, or salt mixed with earthy or other matter; esp. a mixture of salt, gravel, old mortar or lime, cummin seed, and stale urine, used to attract pigeons and to keep them at home.
| c 1400 Mandeville (Roxb.) xii. 51 At þe riȝt side of þis see was Loth wyf turned intil a salt catte. 1453–4 Durham Acc. Rolls (Surtees) 149, j Saltcatt. 1483 Cath. Angl. 317/1 A Salte catte. 1629 Howard Househ. Bks. (Surtees) 264 To Mr. Chambers his manne bringing 3 salte catts. 1669 Worlidge Syst. Agric. 154 A Lump of Salt, which they usually call a Salt-cat, made for that purpose at the Salterns. 1765 Treat Dom. Pigeons 33 The best way is to put your salt cat in jars, with holes in the sides for them to peck it out. 1864 Knight Passages Work. Life II. i. 17 The business-house of a young publisher had..the sort of attraction for flights of authors as a saltcat has for pigeons. |