Dictionary

Kilkenny cat en · NOUN

Etymology

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.

Meanings

1. A tenacious fighter.
   • 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 66:
   • In 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:
   • 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 29:

Forms

Relateds

mutual assured destruction