Cat’s Cradle
. A child’s play, with a piece of twine. Corrupt for cratchcradle or manger cradle, in which the infant Saviour was laid. Cratch is the French crèchē (a rack or manger), and to the present hour the racks which stand in fields for cattle to eat from are called cratches.
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Entry taken from
Dictionary of Phrase and Fable,
edited by the Rev. E. Cobham Brewer, LL.D. and revised in 1895.