Definition of "malkin" in English

noun

1. (now archaic, regional) A (stereotypical name for a) lower-class or uncultured woman; a kitchenmaid; a slattern.

   • Ȝe ne haue na more meryte · in masse ne in houres / Þan Malkyn of hire maydenhode · þat no man desireth. You gain no more merit from mass or your prayers / Than Malkin from her maidenhood, which no man desires.

2. (now regional) A mop, especially one used to clean a baker's oven.

   • "She had no sooner said so, but they all vanished saving onely one Peter Grospetter, whom a little after she saw snatch'd up into the aire, and to let fall his Maulkin (a stick that they make clean Ovens withall) and her self was also driven so forcibly with the wind, that it made her almost Lose her breath."

3. (obsolete, nautical) A mop or sponge attached to a jointed staff for swabbing out a cannon.

4. (now archaic, regional) A scarecrow.

5. (now rare) A cat.

6. (Scotland, Northern England) A hare.