catty

Etymology 1

From cat + -y. Compare Dutch kattig (“catty”); in sense “hostility”, see catfight.

adj

1. (informal, of a person or remark) With subtle hostility in an effort to hurt, annoy, or upset, particularly among women.
2. (informal) Resembling or characteristic of a cat.
   a catty smell

Etymology 2

From Malay kati, from Tamil கட்டி (kaṭṭi).

noun

1. A (unit of) weight used in China, generally standardized as half a kilogram.
   16 Mess, make a Tale, which here is 20 s. English, 5 Tale make a Bancal, a weight so called, and 20 Bancal make a Catty, another weight. 1699, Captain William Dampier, A new voyage round the world, Volume 1
   Transparent yellow pieces are the best; the price is from eight to fourteen dollars per catty, according to size and quality. 1847, Robert Montgomery Martin, China; Political, Commercial, and Social, volume 2, James Madden, page 124
   To limit team members' consumption, it issued food stamps to the villagers and allowed everyone to eat one catty of rice a day. 2009, Huaiyin Li, Village China Under Socialism and Reform: A Micro-History, 1948-2008, Stanford University Press, page 94

Etymology 3

noun

1. (slang) A catapult.
   “Give me your slingshot, and I'll let you have it back after school this afternoon,” she said firmly. […] I stuck the 'catty' into my back pocket and ran outside to meet the others. 2009, Sheldon Arensen, The Carjackers, page 43
   You could also keep a tennis ball and a frog, or a catapult and a frog, but not all three together. I know because I tried it. The frog got a bit squashed between the ball and the handle of the catty. 2017, David Cooper, Christiaan Barnard: The Surgeon Who Dared