Meaning of cater-cousin | Babel Free

Definitions

1. A person who, while not being a blood relation, is regarded as close enough to be called a cousin; a (very) close or good friend; a bosom friend.
   archaic
2. A thing which is closely associated with or related to another thing.
   figuratively

Examples

“His Maſter and he (ſauing your vvorſhips reuerence) are ſcarſe catercoſins.”

“His Mother vvas an Arch-Deacon's Daughter; as honeſt a VVoman as ever broke Bread: She and I have been Cater-Couſins in our Youth; vve have tumbled together betvveen a pair of Sheets, i'faith.”

“He [Samuel Johnson] vvas humble enough to deſire my aſſiſtance on this occaſion, though he and I vvere never cater-couſins; […]”

“The world talks loudly of your learning, your skill, and cunning in arts the most abstruse; nay, sooth to say, some look coldly on you therefore, and stickle not to aver that you are cater-cousin with Beelzebub himself.”

“Out rushed sighs and groans by dozens, / Forth by scores oaths, curses flew: / Proving you were cater-cousins, / Kith and kindred, king and you!”

“[T]hat, after twenty-four years, / we should sit here in Austria / as cater-cousins, under the glassy look / of a Naples Bambino, / the portrayed regards of Strauss and Stravinsky, / doing British crossword puzzles, / is very odd indeed.”

“This discovery of additional data will probably indicate that [Tobias] Smollett and [Samuel] Johnson, both frustrated competitors, and both Samsons breaking the records of other literary athletes, sometimes disliked each other, but that occasionally they enjoyed the happiness of being cater-cousins.”

“But he þᵗ [that] wil take his brothers parte against right, as to ratifie his brothers wrong deceyuing, he is to much natural, tanquam sequens ingenium siue inclinationem naturæ corruptæ contra voluntatem dei [as one following the disposition or inclination of the corrupt nature against the will of God]. And so to bee naturall maye well seme to be cater cosen or cosen germane with (to be diabolicall).”

“To this Commune bonum (or euery horſe his loafe) Yarmouth in propinquity is as the buckle to the thong, and the next finger to the thumbe; not that it is ſibbe or cater-couſins to any mũgrel Democratia, in vvhich one is all, & all is one, but that in her as they are not al one ſo one or tvvo there pockets not vp all the peeces, […]”

CEFR level