Meaning of Kilkenny cat | Babel Free

Definitions

A tenacious fighter.

Examples

“Yet for my father the war was a source of considerable inner conflict; much as he detested Nazism he was psychologically incapable of desiring a British victory. (Very likely his secret wish was that Germany and Britain should do a Kilkenny cat act.”

“Even pirate crews and bands of robbers prefer a peaceful settled understanding as to the division of their plunder to the Kilkenny cat plan.”

“In the words of a member of the Press Gallery in 1967: 'Here we have 630 men and women, friendly – except for normal human antipathies – in private, and fighting like Kilkenny cats in public.'”

CEFR level