malkin
Definitions
from The Century Dictionary and Cyclopedia
- noun (noun) Maid Marian, the lady of the morris or May Day dance.
- noun (noun) A kitchen servant, or any common woman; a slattern.
- noun (noun) A stuffed figure; a caricature of a woman in dress and general appearance; a scarecrow.
- noun (noun) A cat. A shortening of grimalkin.
Examples
-
The Maid Marian is replaced by a clown, called Malkin or Marykin, whose headdress is also plumed and he sometimes wears a mask.
-
What did I tell you the first time you came back from the Hospital looking like a malkin, and with a clean shift of clothes laid out for you and the water on the boil, that I couldn't have taken more trouble, no, not for a funeral?
-
'Thee looks like a gurt malkin' is a common term of reproach among the poor folk -- meaning a bunch of rags on the end of a stick.
-
'Ho, ho!' cried Leander to himself; 'an idle tabby malkin, that perhaps never caught a mouse in his life, and I dare say is not descended from a better family than myself, has the honour to sit at table with my mistress: I would fain know whether he loves her so well as I do.'
The Fairy Book The Best Popular Stories Selected and Rendered Anew
Note
'Malkin' is derived from the 13th century female name 'Malkyn,' a diminutive of 'Mault.'
