catharpin fashion, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

catharpin fashion n.

also cat harping fashion

[? Gk kata, across + pinein, to drink; or naut. jargon cat-harpings, ‘the ropes or (now more generally) iron cramps that serve to brace in the shrouds of the lower-masts behind their respective yards, so as to tighten the shrouds and also give more room to draw the yards in when the ship is close-hauled’ (OED)]

the passing of a shared bottle round a group the wrong way, when drinking: see cit. c.1698.

c.1698		B.E. Dict. Canting Crew n.p.: Catharpin Fashion, when People in Company Drink cross, and not round about from the Right to the Left according to the Sun’s motion.
1725		New Canting Dict.
1737, 1759, 1760, 1776		Bailey Universal Etym. Eng. Dict.
1785, 1788, 1796		Grose Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue n.p.: Cat harping fashion, drinking cross-ways, and not, as usual, over the left thumb. (Sea term.).
1811		Lex. Balatronicum.
1823		Egan Grose’s Classical Dict. of the Vulgar Tongue.