Kit-Cat Club

or Kit-Kat Club

[ kit-kat ]

noun

1. a club of Whig wits, painters, politicians, and men of letters, including Robert Walpole, John Vanbrugh, William Congreve, Joseph Addison, Richard Steele, and Godfrey Kneller, that flourished in London between 1703 and 1720.

Word History and Origins

Origin of Kit-Cat Club¹

From Kit (as short for Christopher) Cat(ling) , alleged to be the keeper of a pie-house where the club met (with play on kit-cat, variant of tipcat; kit ³, cat ( def ) )

Example Sentences

On the adjoining common stood the house in which the members of the celebrated Kit Cat Club assembled.

From Project Gutenberg