Green’s Dictionary of Slang

1. (Scot., also cate, katy) a prostitute [generic use of proper name; Irwin also suggests Du. kat, ‘a wanton’].

c.1499		Skelton Bowge of Courte line 369: ‘What, reuell route!’ quod he, and gan to rayle How ofte he hadde hit Ienet on the tayle. Of Felyce fetewse and liytell prety Cate, How ofte he knocked at her klycked [sic] gate.
1515		A. Barclay Eglogues Miiii: Some syng of Bessy, and some of Nan or Kate.
c.1538		Thersytes (1550) D i: Cut wyll the cakes thought Cate do crye and curse.
1540		D. Lyndsay Satyre of Thrie Estaits I iii: Gif it be syn to tak ane Katy, Or to leif lyk ane bummill-baty.
1568		U. Fulwell Like Will to Like 14: Yonder cometh Ralph Roister [...] for thee he is so fit a mate, / As Tom and Tib for Kit and Kate.
1594		Gesta Grayorum in J. Nichols Progresses and Processions of Queen Elizabeth (1823) III 326: Capringe Kate, of Clarkenwell, claymes to hold of his Highnes five cunyborowes [...] by night-service, to hold play for five Gentlemen Ushers, each of them with a ferret and two tumblers, weekly.
1611		Davies of Hereford Scourge of Folly 15: Marcus his Wifes great modesty doth hate; / And swears hee loues the impudence of Kate.
1637–9		‘The Jovial Pedlar’ in Farmer Merry Songs and Ballads (1897) I 100: Kate brought forth her Cony-skins, from underneath the Staires.
1651		T. Randolph Hey for Honesty III iii: Tell him Madam Kate is as sound as a kettle.
1656		Mennis & Smith et al. ‘Of Banishing the Ladies out of Town’ Wit and Drollery 65: Farewell good places old and new, And Oxford Kates once more adieu; But it goes unto our very hearts, To leave the Cheese-cakes and the Tarts.
1676		‘Cupids Trappan’ in Euing Broadside Ballads No. 35: It is better to live in a Virgins degree, / than marry a false hearted Mate; / Their cunning shall nere take me in their snare / the Devil shall catch them for Kate.
1728		J. Dalton Narrative of Street-Robberies 37: Oviat went by the Name of Miss Kitten, the Butcher by the Name of the Princess Saraphina; and that one Powell, who was call’d St. Dunstan’s Kate, pretended to be deeply in Love with Madam Blackwell.
1806		A. Douglas ‘What Ails You Pate’ Poems in Scot. Dialect 169: An’ whare’s the Meg, the Kate, or Nell, / Will hae you syne wi’ a’ that?
1927		‘Jargon of the Und.’ in DN V 453: Kate, A handsome prostitute.
c.1930		(con. 1868) N. Kimball Amer. Madam (1981) 91: You no good bitch, Kate – you low-down no good bitch.
1931		Irwin Amer. Tramp and Und. Sl. 115: Kate. A handsome or popular prostitute.
1949		Monteleone Criminal Sl. (rev. edn).

2. in UK Und. uses [the dimin. of the SE name Katherine, and on the model of other burglars’ tools, e.g. betty n., jemmy n.³ ].