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English
Noun
tear-cat (plural tear-cats)
- (obsolete, acting) An overactor.
1606, John Day, The Isle of Gulls, in White, Thomas, editor, The Old English Drama, volume 4, published 1830, Induction, page 15:Fie upon't, mere fustian; I had rather hear two good bawdy jests then a whole play of such tear-cat thunder-claps.
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References
- Mackay, Charles (1884) New Light on Some Obscure Words and Phrases in the Works of Shakespeare and his Contemporaries, Tear Cat, page 63: “This odd epithet was applied in the seventeenth century to violent and ranting actors who overdid their parts.”
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