Cat

"The Cat" (Photo by Robin Roberts)

The "Cat O' Nine Tails" is a type of multi-tailed whipping device that originated as an implement for severe physical punishment as in the British Royal Navy.

In modern days this whip is still heavily used; however, popularity has shifted this item from having a grim use to being used for sexual pleasures.

Terminology

The word is recorded in English since 1695, and it was probably so called in reference to its "claws", which inflict parallel wounds. They have been used ever since.

There are equivalent terms in many languages, usually strictly translating, and also some analogous terms referring to a similar instrument's number of tails (cord or leather), such as the Dutch zevenstaart ('seven tail[s]').

Description

The instrument traditionally has nine thongs as a result of the manner in which hemp rope is braided. Three strands of yarn are braided together in one direction, and three of these would be braided together in the opposite direction, causing these nine braids to lock themselves together. To make a cat o' nine tails, a rope is simply unraveled into original nine braids, and each are knotted to keep them from further unraveling.

Some of these "cats" had lead weights or hooks added to the knots at the end of these braids.

The word is recorded in English since 1695, and it was probably so called in reference to its "claws", the knots

Variations

Variations exist, either named cat (of x tails) or not, such as the whip used on adult Egyptian prisoners which had a cord on a cudgel branching into seven tails, each with six knots, used only on adult men, with boys being subject to caning, until Egypt banned the use of the device in 2001.

Sometimes the term "cat" is used incorrectly to describe various other punitive flogging devices with multiple tails in any number, even one made from 80 twigs (so rather a limp birch) to flog a sick Iranian instead of 80 lashes normally applicable under shariah.

Also see -

• Corporal punishment (includes comparison of disciplinary implements)

List of Spanking Implements
Flat spanking implements bath brush (wooden or plastic) belt bimmy cooking spatula (wooden or plastic) dough scraper (rubber or silicone) flyswatter hairbrush (wooden or plastic) leather paddle Newspaper paddle (wooden paddle) ping-pong paddle ruler (wooden or plastic) slapper/flapper slipper / Plimsoll strap / Strop tawse wooden spoon Stick-like spanking implements blackboard pointer cane (rattan, bamboo etc.) crop ferula stick switch yardstick Other spanking implements baccalà (clipfish) birch carpet beater Quirt rope's end scourge stinging nettles Whipping implements include bullwhip cat o' nine tails chicotte (an African whip) flail flogger horsehair whip human hair whip klopfpeitsche loopy johnny martinet quirt rebenque (South American gaucho whip) rubber hose single-tail whip sjambok (South African whip)
Some spanking implements produce more "sting" while others produce more "thud". See "sting and thud" for more on this distinction.

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