Meanings
plural Kilkenny cats
- A tenacious fighter.
Even pirate crews and bands of robbers prefer a peaceful settled understanding as to the division of their plunder to the Kilkenny cat plan.
1984, Bernard Shaw, The Intelligent Woman's Guide to Socialism and Capitalism, →ISBN, page 292 more examples
Yet for my father the war was a source of considerable inner conflict; much as he detested Nazism he was psychologically incapable of desiring a British victory. (Very likely his secret wish was that Germany and Britain should do a Kilkenny cat act.
1979, Dervla Murphy, Wheels Within Wheels, page 66In the words of a member of the Press Gallery in 1967: 'Here we have 630 men and women, friendly – except for normal human antipathies – in private, and fighting like Kilkenny cats in public.'
2015, Emma Crewe, The House of Commons: An Anthropology of MPs at Work, page 68
Origin
Referring to an old story about two cats who fought to the death and ate each other up such that only their tails were left.
Full word history & related roots →Cite this entry
Kilkenny cat. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 5, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Kilkenny%20cat
“Kilkenny cat.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Kilkenny%20cat. Accessed November 5, 2026.
WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Kilkenny cat,” accessed November 5, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Kilkenny%20cat.
Source: Kilkenny cat on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.