catsfoot en · NOUN
Etymology
From cat's + foot. For its obsolete figurative sense, see cat's-paw.
Meanings
-
Synonym of cat's-paw: a foot of a cat; (figurative, obsolete) a person used unwittingly or through trickery by another.
...like the Monkey, that took the Cat's Foot to pull the Chesnut out of the Fire...
c. 1661, Argyle's Last Will in The Harleian Miscellany, Vol. VIII, p. 30
-
Synonym of ground ivy (Glechoma hederacea).
It is commonly called […] in English ground Iuie, Alehoofe, Gill creepe by ground, Tunehoofe, and Cats foote.
1597, John Gerarde [i.e., John Gerard], “Of Ground Iuie, or Alefoot”, in The Herball or Generall Historie of Plantes. […], London: […] Edm[und] Bollifant, for Bonham and Iohn Norton, →OCLC, book II, page 705:
-
Synonym of mountain cudweed (Antennaria dioica).
...an Infusion made with the Heads of White Poppies, Cat's-foot, Colt's-foot, and Maiden-hair.
1739, Henri François Le Dran, translated by John Sparrow, Observations in Surgery, page 119: