cat in the meal-tub: meaning & examples

Meanings:

• 1.

  British EnglishdialectdialectalarchaicMachine
  • A person or animal found stealing meal, grain, or food from a communal tub; used of someone caught in the act of taking food.
  • A person discovered in a compromising or culpable position, analogous to being caught with stolen provisions.

  Examples

  Beta

  • The farmer caught the cat in the meal-tub, its paws covered in spilled grain.

    The farmer caught the cat in the meal-tub, its paws covered in spilled grain.

  • When the children found the cat in the meal-tub, they laughed at how guilty it looked with its whiskers full of flour.

    When the children found the cat in the meal-tub, they laughed at how guilty it looked with its whiskers full of flour.

  • He discovered the mouse caught like a cat in the meal-tub, trapped while trying to steal food.

    He discovered the mouse caught like a cat in the meal-tub, trapped while trying to steal food.

  • The caretaker warned that any animal caught in the meal-tub would be shooed away immediately.

    The caretaker warned that any animal caught in the meal-tub would be shooed away immediately.