Dictionary

cat's-paw en · NOUN

Etymology

From cat + paw. In most senses, due to a resemblance of shape. In its senses as a pawn to another's interests or analysis, variant of earlier cat's-foot, derived from European tales of a monkey (attested as early as 1456 but sometimes misattributed to the 16th-century monkey of Pope Julius II) who used a sleeping puppy or cat's foot to rake hot chestnuts out of a fire, taken as a metaphor for rulers' ill use of their subjects. Now usually understood in light of Jean de La Fontaine's 1679 fable of the "The Monkey and the Cat" (sometimes misattributed to Aesop), in which the monkey fools the cat into removing the chestnuts through flattery and promises of shared reward. The cat removes the chestnuts one by one, burning his paw while the monkey eats each in turn. A maid then enters and chases them both away. La Fontaine's moral concludes that princes should not endure real losses for mere flattery from their king.

Meanings

1. A paw of a cat.
2. (figuratively) Someone who acts in another's interest, (properly) unknowingly or through trickery.
   • To take the Cat by the foote, and therewith rake the coales out of the Ouen. 1622, Mateo Alemán, translated by James Mabbe, The Rogue, volume II, page 167:
   • Cat's-paw, common in vulgar speech, but not in writing. 1836, Charles Richardson, A New Dictionary of the English Language, s.v. "Cat"
   • And for a third thing, Johnson never seemed like he was intent on blowing up NATO because he was a Russian cat’s paw. 2022, Jonathan V. Last, (Please provide the book title or journal name):
   • These he useth as the Monkey did the Cats paw, to scrape the nuts out of the fire. 1657, Michael Hawke, Killing is Murder and No Murder, page 3:
   • Eddie Mars was behind Geiger, protecting him and using him for a cat's-paw. 1939, Raymond Chandler, The Big Sleep, page 243:
3. A minor breeze that ripples the surface of a body of water.
   • No, not a cat’s paw anywhere: Hold up your finger in the air You could n’t feel a breath; For why, in yonder storm that burst, The wind that blew so hard at first Had blown itself to death. 1845, Thomas Hood, The Captain’s Cow:
   • “Now,” said Hands, “look there; there’s a pet bit for to beach a ship in. Fine flat sand, never a cat’s paw, trees all around of it, and flowers a-blowing like a garding on that old ship.” 1881–1882, Robert Louis Stevenson, Treasure Island, London; Paris: Cassell & Company, published 14 November 1883, →OCLC:
   • There was very little wind, though now and again a catspaw hurrying from the south helped them on their way and darkened the smooth small waves. 1930, Arthur Ransome, Swallows and Amazons:
   • Cats-paw, a light air of wind perceived... by the impression made on the surface of the sea, which it sweeps very lightly, and then decays. 1769, William Falconer, An Universal Dictionary of the Marine:
4. A twisting variant of the lark's-foot hitch which forms two small bights used to hook a pair of tackles to a rope.
   • ...when the mate came to shake the catspaw out of the down-haul... 1840, Richard Henry Dana, chapter XXXIII, in Two Years Before the Mast, page 125:
5. (figuratively, uncommon) Someone or something that comes down quickly upon a victim in the manner of a cat's paw.
   • [T]hese Florentines [...] / In hungry pride and gainful cowardice, / [...] / Quick cat's-paws on the generous stray-away. 1820, John Keats, “Isabella; or, The Pot of Basil. A Story from Boccaccio.”, in Lamia, Isabella, the Eve of St. Agnes, and Other Poems, London: […] [Thomas Davison] for Taylor and Hessey, […], →OCLC, stanza XVII, page 57:
6. (US) A small crowbar with a handle at a right angle to a blade with a V-shaped notch, principally used by carpenters to remove nails.
   • Filed Dec. 13, 1952. Cat's Paw. For Hand Tools for Pulling Nails and Spikes. 1954 November 10, U.S. Patent Office, Official Gazette, page 321:
7. (historical, qualifier:torture) A metal set of claws worn over the hand or wielded in the hand used to remove skin and flesh.
8. (US) A supervisor whose reliance on a subordinate's analysis is so complete as to render him or her liable for the subordinate's animus or other misconduct towards a third employee.
9. Any of several species of North American freshwater mussels of the genus Epioblasma, especially E. obliquata.
10. Any of several species of Australian bloodworts of the genus Anigozanthos, especially A. humilis.

Forms

Hypernyms

tool (one used for another's purposes) · nail puller (carpenter's tool) · pawn (one used for another's purposes) · puppet (one used for another's purposes)

Relateds

cat's eye · in popular psychology · pull someone's chestnuts out of the fire · a power tool used to remove nails · a person who does menial work · an unrelated metaphor from a separate story · a feature of gemstones · dogsbody · an unrelated type of knot · people acting on behalf of a narcissist · monkey's fist · monkey's paw · flying monkeys · denailer

Synonyms

dupe · cat's claw (carpenter's tool) · rubber stamp (American legal term) · tool · kangaroo paw (Australian bloodworts) · dupe (one unwittingly used for another's purposes)

Translations (15)

ja 走狗 (someone who acts in another's interest) · ja 犬 (someone who acts in another's interest) · fi kissan käpälä (paw of a cat) · ru гвоздодёр (small crowbar for pulling nails) · fi kenguruntassu (bloodwort of the genus Anigozanthos) · cmn 工具人 (someone who acts in another's interest) · hu eszköze (someone who acts in another's interest) · fi tuulenvire (nautical: minor breeze) · de Kuhfuß (small crowbar for pulling nails) · ja 走り (someone who acts in another's interest) · fi kissan tassu (paw of a cat) · fi apuri (someone who acts in another's interest) · de Katzenpfote (paw of a cat) · fi naulanvedin (small crowbar for pulling nails) · ja 手先 (someone who acts in another's interest)