cony-catching

English

Alternative forms

• coney-catching
• conicatching
• cunny-catching

Noun

cony-catching (uncountable)

1. (obsolete) Deception, trickery. [16th–17th c.]
   • c. 1590–1592 (date written), William Shakespeare, “The Taming of the Shrew”, in Mr. William Shakespeares Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies […] (First Folio), London: […] Isaac Iaggard, and Ed[ward] Blount, published 1623, →OCLC, [Act IV, scene i]:

     Come, you are so full of conicatching.

   • 1603, Michel de Montaigne, chapter VIII, in John Florio, transl., The Essayes […], book II, London: […] Val[entine] Simmes for Edward Blount […], →OCLC:

     I doe beware and keepe my selfe from such treasons, and cunny-catching in mine owne bosome, not by an unquiet, and tumultuary curiosity, but rather by a diversion and resolution.