sb. Forms: 1 catthola, 7 cat’s-hole, 7– cat-hole.
† 1. The hole or den of the wild cat. Obs.
854. Chart. Æthelwolf, in Cod. Dipl., V. 105. Of ðam wogan hlince on ða catthola; of ðan cattholan on Wenbeorhʓe.
2. A hole in a wall, door, etc., large enough to let a cat through.
a. 1625. Fletcher, Mad Lover, III. ii. Is there ne’er a cat-hole Where I may creep through?
1721. Kelly, Sc. Prov., 145 (Jam.). He has left the Key in the Cat hole.… To signify that a Man has run away for fear of his Creditors.
1808. Med. Jrnl., XIX. 120. A large round ball … which rolled along the floor of the room until it came to a cat-hole in the door.
3. Naut. One of the two holes at the stern of the ship, through which a cable or hawser can be passed for steadying or heaving the ship astern, etc.
a. 1642. Sir W. Monson, Naval Tracts, III. (1703), 346/1. Cat-holes are over the Ports in the Gun-Room, right with the Capstain, to heave the Ship a stern by a Cable, or Hause.
4. A deep pool in a river.
1883. J. Hay, in Century Mag., 378/2. He … seated himself on a log at the edge of a deep pool, or ‘cat-hole,’ and began fishing.
