CONCERNING CATS. 179 



Pussy cats. — Male blossom of the willow. 



Salt-cat, or salt-cate. — A mixture of salt, gravel, clay, old 

 mortar, cumin seed, ginger, and other ingredients, in a pan, 

 which is placed in pigeon lofts. 



Sick as a Cat. — Cats are subject to sickness or vomiting 

 for the purpose of throwing up indigestible matter, such as 

 the fur of mice, feathers of birds, which would otherwise 

 collect and form balls internally. For this reason they eat 

 grass, which produces the desired effect ; hence arises the 

 phrase " as sick as a cat." 



Tabby.— ''An old maid; either from Tabitha, a formal 

 antiquated name, or else from a tabby cat ; old maids, by 

 the rude, weak-minded, and vulgar, being often compared to 

 cats. ' To drive tab,' to go out on a party of pleasure with 

 wife and family." — Grose's Glossary. 



" The neighbour's old cat often 



Came to pay us a visit ; 

 We made her a bow and courtesy, 



Each with a compliment in it. 

 After her health we asked. 



Our care and regard to evince ; 

 (We have made the very same speeches 



To many an old cat since)." 



Mrs. B. Browning (translation of "Heine"). 



Tip-cat. — A pleasant game for those engaged in it ; not 

 so, too often, for others, medical reports of late tending to 

 show that many cases of the loss of sight have occurred. 



To turn Cat in Pan. — This phrase has been a source of 

 niuch contention, and many different derivations have been 

 given; but all tend to show that it means a complete turn over, 

 that is, to quit one side and go to the other, to turn traitor, 

 to turncoat. "To turn cat in pan: Prcevaricor'' (Ainsworth)! 

 Bacon, in his Essays " On Cunning," p. 81, says : "There is 

 a cunning which we in England call ' the turning of the 

 cat in the pan,' which is when that a man says to another, 



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