catess

plural catesses · alternative cattess

1. rareSynonym of she-cat.

   Now are the wild, weird songs of night / Borne to us through the open lattices, / And wake us up in sore affright— / Some are cats and some are catesses. / — St. Paul Herald.

   1884, Life, volume 4, page 28, column 2

   5 more examples

   I merely add that after a short acquaintance between the Monkey and the Lioness, a Cat and Catess made their appearance to the great surprise and no small scandal of the whole social circle.[…]Anubis, worshipped since under the name of Mercury, was transformed into a Dog; Diana, who according to a learned Orientalist, is the same as the Egyptian Isis, took the form of a handsome Cat, or rather Catess.

   1852, Charles Hale, editor, To-day, a Boston Literary Journal, volume I, Boston: Redding and Co., pages 147, 165

   Besides the animals of the neighbourhood, for whom Madame Ahavzi kept open table on certain days, she kept of her own two cats and four catesses, which she took a great deal more care of than if they had been human beings.

   1873, Stories from Over the Sea, Edinburgh: William P. Nimmo, page 160

   No one could dream for a moment that any respectable and well brought up catess could be attracted by such a fearful storm of profanity and discord. We blush to write it, but duty is duty—cats swear! We know that they are peculiarly susceptible to perfumes and music, and it is quite opposite to their nature to believe that such discordant discords would be uttered by any cat, unless in extreme agony.

   1882, The Australian Journal: A Weekly Record of Literature, Science, and Art, volume 18, page 148, column 1

   ‘Rather than marry a gentleman like that,’ the girl continued recklessly, ‘I will be an old maid, and pass my life with cats and catesses.’ / This was girl-phrasing in the style of Richardson’s ‘dogs and dogesses’; not that the girl here speaking had ever read a line of Richardson, but that she spoke the language which that novelist was so industrious in gathering from girls’ lips.

   1899, Christabel R. Coleridge, Arthur Innes, editors, The Monthly Packet, page 161

   The programme of entertainment for Gideon’s Band at Spokane bore the following bright lines: / Dear Kittens, CATS and CATesses, from cities far and near, / A conCATenated welcome we extend to you while here.

   1903, Concatenated Order of Hoo-Hoo, The Bulletin, “Cat-ode.”, page 77

   Synonyms: she-cat