cater-cousin

plural cater-cousins · alternative cater cousin

1. archaicA person who, while not being a blood relation, is regarded as close enough to be called a cousin; a (very) close or good friend; a bosom friend.

   His Maſter and he (ſauing your vvorſhips reuerence) are ſcarſe catercoſins.

   c. 1596–1598 (date written), W[illiam] Shakespeare, The Excellent History of the Merchant of Venice. […] (First Quarto), [London]: […] J[ames] Roberts [for Thomas Heyes], published 1600, →OCLC, [Act II, scene ii], signature C3, recto

   5 more examples

   His Mother vvas an Arch-Deacon's Daughter; as honeſt a VVoman as ever broke Bread: She and I have been Cater-Couſins in our Youth; vve have tumbled together betvveen a pair of Sheets, i'faith.

   1677 (date written), John Dryden, The Kind Keeper; or, Mr. Limberham: A Comedy: […], London: […] R[ichard] Bentley, and M[ary] Magnes, […], published 1680, →OCLC, Act III, scene i, page 29

   He [Samuel Johnson] vvas humble enough to deſire my aſſiſtance on this occaſion, though he and I vvere never cater-couſins; […]

   1759 March 16 (date written), James Boswell, quoting [Tobias] Smollett, The Life of Samuel Johnson, LL.D. […], volume I, London: […] Henry Baldwin, for Charles Dilly, […], published 1791, →OCLC, page 190

   The world talks loudly of your learning, your skill, and cunning in arts the most abstruse; nay, sooth to say, some look coldly on you therefore, and stickle not to aver that you are cater-cousin with Beelzebub himself.

   1837–1845, Thomas Ingoldsby [pseudonym; Richard Barham], “Family Stories.—No. VI.—Mrs. Botherby’s Story. The Leech of Folkestone.”, in The Ingoldsby Legends: Or, Mirth and Marvels, London: Richard Bentley, […], published [1840], →OCLC, page 94

   Out rushed sighs and groans by dozens, / Forth by scores oaths, curses flew: / Proving you were cater-cousins, / Kith and kindred, king and you!

   1876, Robert Browning, “At the ‘Mermaid’”, in Pacchiarotto and How He Worked in Distemper: With Other Poems, London: Smith, Elder, & Co., […], →OCLC, stanza 8, page 52

   [T]hat, after twenty-four years, / we should sit here in Austria / as cater-cousins, under the glassy look / of a Naples Bambino, / the portrayed regards of Strauss and Stravinsky, / doing British crossword puzzles, / is very odd indeed.

   1965, W[ystan] H[ugh] Auden, “Thanksgiving for a Habitat. The Common Life (for Chester Kallman).”, in About the House, New York, N.Y.; Toronto, Ont.: Random House, →OCLC, stanzas 13–15, pages 37–38

   Synonyms: bosom buddy, intimate

2. figurativelyA thing which is closely associated with or related to another thing.

   2 more examples

   But he þᵗ [that] wil take his brothers parte against right, as to ratifie his brothers wrong deceyuing, he is to much natural, tanquam sequens ingenium siue inclinationem naturæ corruptæ contra voluntatem dei [as one following the disposition or inclination of the corrupt nature against the will of God]. And so to bee naturall maye well seme to be cater cosen or cosen germane with (to be diabolicall).

   a. 1556 (date written), Hugh Latimer, “A Frutefull Letter of Maister Latimer Written to a Certaine Gentilman”, in John Foxe, Actes and Monuments of These Latter and Perillous Dayes, […], London: […] Iohn Day, […], published 30 March 1563 (Gregorian calendar), →OCLC, book V, page 1351 [1420], column 2

   To this Commune bonum (or euery horſe his loafe) Yarmouth in propinquity is as the buckle to the thong, and the next finger to the thumbe; not that it is ſibbe or cater-couſins to any mũgrel Democratia, in vvhich one is all, & all is one, but that in her as they are not al one ſo one or tvvo there pockets not vp all the peeces, […]

   1599, [Thomas] Nashe, Nashes Lenten Stuffe, […], London: […] [Thomas Judson and Valentine Simmes] for N[icholas] L[ing] and C[uthbert] B[urby] […], →OCLC, page 16