For the cat lovers! A.Word.A.Day--Kilkenny cats

Kilkenny cats (kil-KEN-ee kats) noun

People who fight relentlessly till their end.

[From a pair of proverbial cats in Kilkenny, Ireland, who fought till
only their tails were left.]

According to a story, some people in the town of Kilkenny in Ireland
enjoyed tying the tails of two cats and watching them fight till only
their tale was left behind. Most likely the story is a parable of
a contest between Kilkenny and Irishtown, two municipalities which
fought about their boundaries till little more than their tails were
left. Here is a popular limerick (another word that takes its origins
from the name of an Irish town) about the cats:

"There wanst was two cats of Kilkenny
Each thought there was one cat too many
So they fought and they fit
And they scratched and they bit
'Til instead of two cats there weren't any."