malkin - Definitions from Dictionary.com

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Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1) - Cite This Source - Share This

mal·kin

Audio Help [maw-kin, mawl-, mal-] Pronunciation Key

–noun British Dialect.

1.	an untidy woman; slattern.

2.	a scarecrow, ragged puppet, or grotesque effigy.

3.	a mop, esp. one made from a bundle of rags and used to clean out a baker's oven.

a cat.

a hare.

Also, mawkin.

[Origin: 1200–50; ME: lit., little Molly, equiv. to Mal, var. of Molly Mary + -kin

]

Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1)
Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2006.

Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc.
malkin

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Online Etymology Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This
malkin

"a slattern, woman of the lower classes," c.1275, from fem. proper name Malkyn, a dim. of Mault "Maud" (see Matilda). Also attested from c.1207 as the proper name of a female specter. Sense of "untidy woman" led to meaning "mop, bundle of rags on a stick" (used to clean ovens, artillery pieces, etc.), c.1400. Attested as the name of a cat since 1673; used in Scotland and northern England as the name of a hare (1724).

Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary - Cite This Source - Share This

Malkin

Mal"kin\, n. [Dim. of Maud, the proper name. Cf. Grimalkin.] [Written also maukin.]

1. Originally, a kitchenmaid; a slattern. --Chaucer.

2. A mop made of clouts, used by the kitchen servant.

3. A scarecrow. [Prov. Eng.]

4. (Mil.) A mop or sponge attached to a jointed staff for swabbing out a cannon.

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