CAT'S CRADLE • FREE-TRANSLATOR.COM • Definition of Cat's cradle

... besides outdoor games of skill and strength, possess a variety of indoor amusements. One wet day, in a Dyak house, when a number of boys and young men were about me, I thought to amuse them with something new, and showed them how to make "cat's cradle" with a piece of string. Greatly to my surprise, they knew all about it, and more than I did; for, after Charles and I had gone through all the changes we could make, one of the boys took it off my hand, and made several new figures which quite puzzled ...

— The Malay Archipelago - Volume I. (of II.) • Alfred Russel Wallace

... a doll, and they practised a little song which they had sung in school. It was about putting the dollies to sleep in a cat's cradle, and a little mouse came in and awakened them, and then they went out to gather flowers for ...

— Bunny Brown and His Sister Sue Playing Circus • Laura Lee Hope