catling

1. (archaic) A little cat; a kitten.Examples: "For never cat nor catling I shall find, / But mew shall they in Pluto's palace blind."; "Abel was a lover of the worst type: when he was with a catling he hardly ever laughed . If the catling came back again, he never did."; ""Have you seen the ship's catling, Little Mistress?" he called, crossing to Hisvet, the kitten almost hidden in his big hands."archaic

2. (surgery) A double-edged, sharp-pointed dismembering knife.Examples: "the amputation is competed by passing the catling between the separated bones, dividng the flexor tendons, &c., and forming a flap of about equal size to the superior from the integument on the sole of the foot."; "The operator […] grasping the soft parts immediately below, raises them so as to facilitate the passage of a double-edged knife or catling across the face of the bones […]"; "[…] after Esmarch we hold back the bloody torrent which once gushed forth after the catling; and Listerizing with Lister's spray we bar all passage into gaping wounds of motes that people the sunbeam and breed havoc in the tract of the sanguineous life stream."Synonyms: catlin