tear-cat

tear-cat (plural tear-cats)

1. (obsolete, acting) An overactor.
   • 1606, Day, John, The Isle of Gulls, in White, Thomas, editor, The Old English Drama, volume 4, published 1830, Induction, page 15:

     Fie upon't, mere fustian; I had rather hear two good bawdy jests then a whole play of such tear-cat thunder-claps.

   • 1611, Middleton, Thomas; Dekker, Thomas, The Roaring Girl‎, Act 5, Scene 1:

     I am cal'd by those that have seen my valour, Tear-Cat.

• ham, hambone, hamfatter, overactor

• tear a cat

• Mackay, Charles (1884) New Light on Some Obscure Words and Phrases in the Works of Shakespeare and his Contemporaries‎, Tear Cat, page 63: “This odd epithet was applied in the seventeenth century to violent and ranting actors who overdid their parts.”

• tea cart, teacart