grimalkin

noun

1. A cat, especially an elderly female.

   “Servant:..."Commend me unto Titton Tatton and to Puss thy Catton, and tell her that Grimalkin is dead.".”

   “Thus Fable reports, that the fair Grimalkin, whom Venus, at the Deſire of a paſſionate Lover, converted from a Cat into a fine Woman, no ſooner perceived a Mouſe than, mindful of her former Sport, and ſtill retaining her priſtine Nature, ſhe leaped from the Bed of her Huſband to purſue the little Animal.”

   “Among the other important and privileged members of the household who figured in attendance at the dinner, was a large gray cat, who, I observed, was regaled from time to time with tit bits from the table. This sage grimalkin was a favourite of both master and mistress, and slept at night in their room; […]”

   “Two benches, shaped in sections of a circle, nearly enclosed the hearth; on one of these I stretched myself, and Grimalkin mounted the other. […] He [Joseph] cast a sinister look at the little flame which I had enticed to play between the ribs, swept the cat from its elevation, and bestowing himself in the vacancy, commenced the operation of stuffing a three-inch pipe with tobacco; […]”

2. (archaic)A bad-tempered old woman; a crone.